The Storm Before Dawn
by CJ - Lady of Gryffindor
Summary: 48 hours after the battle of Hogwarts Luna Lovegood runs from the castle and into a storm to escape the storm inside her heart, When she stumbles across George Weasley they are forced to seek shelter together...and an even greater storm is about to begin
1. The Storm

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-Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe is the creation of JK Rowling

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter One: The Storm

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It was a clap of thunder that shook Luna Lovegood awake in the in the early hours two days after the battle of Hogwarts. All of the girls that slept her dormitory in Ravenclaw house still slept and Luna on quiet tiptoes circled them one by one to assure herself they were okay.

Padma Patil muttered softly in her sleep when Luna pulled the blankets back up over her shoulders. Cho Chang lay clutching her pillow in her fist and whimpered softly, a sure sign she was having another nightmare. Luna sat next to her and rubbed her back gently until Cho had quieted back into a peaceful slumber.

The other two girls in her room, Parvoti Patil and Lavender Brown were not Ravenclaws but had been welcomed in to spend the night just the same. Parvoti did not wish to be separated from her twin sister and Lavender, as Parvoti's best best had been dragged along for the ride.

Luna took special care to make sure her guests were comfortably sleeping. Ravenclaw or not, these girls had shared something that would give them a bond for the rest of their lives. All had been members of Dumbledores Army, a renegade band of students led by Harry Potter who, in resistance to the ministry of magic, had learned things that had likely saved all of their lives and the lives of many others as well only two days before.

Assured that the others slept peacefully Luna turned from the room and made her way quietly down the long corridor of sleeping girls and down the stairs to the Ravenclaw common room. She settled into her favorite chintz settee near the fireplace and used _incendio_ to stir the fire back to life.

Sitting back she tried to put her mind to peaceful thoughts. The war was over, Voldemort was dead. That meant that those wrongly held by Voldemort and his followers would soon be set free...namely Luna's father.

Xenophilius Lovegood had been imprisoned months before when he had failed to produce Harry Potter after alerting the Death Eaters to Harry's presence at Xenophilius's home. Luna shivered with the memories of being held prisoner at Malfoy Manor as incentive for her father to print ugly anti-Harry Potter lies in his magazine "The Quibbler" and to turn Harry over should he appear. And appear Harry had, along with his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, seeking information on the Hallows.

Luna abruptly jumped to her feet and began to pace, not liking at all the direction her thoughts had taken her. It didn't sit at all well with Luna knowing that she was the reason that three of the people who were among the dearest in the world to her had nearly been killed.

Deciding a walk on the grounds was in order, Luna pushed past the entrance to Ravenclaw house and into the dark, empty hallways of Hogwarts and made her way to the nearest exit. Then, thankful to see that the storm seemed to be blowing off in another direction and planning to miss the castle, she pushed her way out into the night.

The entrance courtyard, like the hallways, was deserted at this time of the night and Luna was grateful for that. She had a reputation for always being cheerful and upbeat, she was well aware that people thought she was a ditz, what some called a space-cadet. But Luna had never been particularly concerned with what others thought of her. Otherwise she would have never been able to hold onto the creatures that had lived in her mothers fairy tales. She could care less if others laughed at her unshaken belief in the crumple horned snorkack, wrackspurts and nargles.

Oh sure, somewhere in her mind, she knew they weren't real, but her heart knew that to let go of the creatures of her mothers imagination was to let go of another piece of her mother. Luna wasn't ready to let another go, not when she had so few left. Particularly when she didn't know yet the fate of her father. There had been reports of mass murders at Azkaban when the death eaters guarding it had feared Voldemorts hold was slipping, just after rumors surfaced that Harry Potter and his lot had gotten away once again after stealing something from a vault at Gringotts.

Luna stopped at the top of the long span of stairs that led to the boat house, mentally chastising herself for allowing her mind to go down that dark path once again. Tears threatened and she steeled herself against them. Too many of her thoughts seemed to end in her fathers death, and it was getting harder and harder to push them away. It had been easier during the day. All day yesterday she like everyone else had been far too busy to have time for dark thoughts. Nearly everyone had stayed behind to help clean up the mess left after the war and to aid in the search for the missing. Unfortunately, the search for the missing had largely ended in the discovery of bodies.

Thankfully, those bodies had consisted mostly of death eaters. Luna herself had found the body of the man who had pulled her off the Hogwarts express at Christmas. But now and then, a classmate or someone else from their side would be found in the rubble. Then everyone would gather and a prayer would be spoken with the family just before a detail from the ministry came to escort them with the body to the morgue.

Luna couldn't help but remember the shock when the body of little Dennis Creevey had been found. He was so tiny, and only a third year, but when his brother Colin had snuck back in, obviously he hadn't been alone.

"Damn it Luna!" she cursed at herself as she reached the bottom of the stairs and walked toward the pier "Stop thinking about that rubbish!"

"Hasn't anyone told you, the first sign of insanity is talking to ones self?" a deep voice behind her made Luna jump and she spun around to locate it's source, firing off a stupefy that just missed its target. Behind her just to the side of the stairs sat George Weaseley, his knees pulled up under his chin.

"You missed. Harry would be quite disappointed, after all that he went to to see us taught that defense curse properly."

"You scared me." Luna tucked her wand back up the sleeve of her long sweater.

"You're lucky it was me and not some death eater looking for a way off the grounds." George got to his feet "You'd make a very pretty ticket out of here Miss Lovegood."

"What are you doing skulking around down here anyway?" Luna shot him an frustrated look "Sitting around lying in wait just to scare people are you?"

"No actually." George let lose an unreadable sigh "I came down here so my mum and dad wouldn't have to watch me bawling again."

George looked at his feet "It tends to make them cry and I can't bear being the cause of that."

A light clicked on in Luna's memory and she remembered... Fred Weasley, Georges twin brother, had been killed.

"Oh heavens." Luna put her hand over her mouth "I'm the worlds biggest prat. I'm so sorry."

"Don't see why you should be, you didn't kill him." George was carefully pulling his mask in place that he wore to convince others he was okay.

"No." Luna put her hand on his arm "I'm being horrible, a complete prat. Speaking to you so rudely just now. I should have have known..."

George looked down into the silvery depths of her eyes, his mask slipping back a few degrees at the intensity of the compassion he saw there.

"Known what?" He said, his voice sounded choked

"You came here to be alone, to mourn." Another realization hit Luna "And I'm intruding on that...I'm sorry, I'll just...just go and leave you be."

Luna turned to the stairs when a bright bolt of lightning slashed across the sky, the brightness blinding her for a second and the following clap of thunder was so close and so loud that she jumped and totally without intent, Luna found herself suddenly cheek to chest with George Weasley.

"Oh...Hello there." George said, a bit of a chuckle in his voice "Thought you were leaving...but if you wanted a cuddle...you only had to ask".

Luna, blushing to the roots of her hair, lifted her hands and pushed against him, breaking free of his grasp.

"No I don't want to cuddle. Why would I want a cuddle with an arrogant pig like you George Weasley?"

"You tell me Luna, you're the one who jumped into my arms uninvited."

Luna felt her hackles rise at his presumptions "I'll have you know I didn't jump into anything ...on purpose."

George just laughed as another bolt of lightning struck overhead, followed by a louder clap of thunder and Luna jumped again, thankfully this time away from George.

"Jumpy little bit of fluff aren't you?"

"I just don't like storms and... Oh! I don't know why I feel a need to explain anything to you, I could care less what you think. I'm leaving. Goodnight Mr. Weasley."

"Come now Luna, we've held one another. Surely you can call me George."

Lightning cracked again, this time it hit the metal torches only a few feet from where George and Luna stood, Luna moaned a little and jumped a lot as the wind kicked up and it began to lightly rain.

"Goodbye _Mr._ Weasley." Luna ran to the stairs as the rain turned suddenly into a downpour but found herself pulled back before she reached them.

"What do you think you're doing? Let me go!"

"Are you out of your mind? You want to be charred crispy? Those metal torches are like lightning rods. You go running around between them you'll get yourself killed."

"I'd much rather take my chances than continue to stand here and be mocked by you, thank you very much!"

But Luna was helpless to resist as George dragged her inside the shelter of the boat house and stopped by a ladder.

"Now climb."

"What? Why?"

"There's more shelter in the loft, we stay down here were going to get soaked."

Luna looked at him doubtfully

"Just quit arguing with me and climb." Hesitantly Luna obeyed, then moved away from the ladder to distance herself from the annoyance now climbing the ladder behind her.

George stomped up to her and took her arm, wheeling her around to look down. "That's why."

Another flash of bright light illuminated the ground and Luna saw the high waves and the wind tossing the spray about, quickly wetting the inside of the lower floor of the boat house.

"Oh." she said sheepishly and stepped away from the edge, then stood shivering in a corner far away from him.

George went to one of the boats and began digging around under the cover, finally locating what he was looking for he turned back, a piece of heavy white canvas in his hands. He shrugged out of his wet sweater and shoes, then spread the canvas out, doubled it over and sat down and pulled it up around his shoulders.

Luna watched him warily as he flipped a bit of the canvas open, offering her a warm place to sit, but she hesitated.

"Merlin's drawers, I don't bite. Look, you're cold right? " He rolled his eyes as she continued to ignore him "Come and be warm, or freeze, your choice."

A violent shiver went up Luna's back and she edged closer, her teeth beginning to chatter. Finally she kicked off her wet shoes and sweater and sat next to him, allowing him to adjust the canvas around her shoulders.

"Lord but your a stubborn thing. I was beginning to wonder if you were planning on holding out for an engraved invitation."

"Must you speak?" Luna looked away from him

"It makes communicating much easier, speaking does."

Luna still refused to look at him.

"I don't feel a particular need to communicate at the moment." Luna decided to close her eyes and try to sleep. Maybe if she fell asleep she could sleep out this storm.

George didn't seem willing to allow it however.

"Pity, I thought you might be able to expand my mind a bit...you Ravenclaws are suppose to be the smart well traveled ones. Of course, we can't all spend our summers scouting out horned crumbled snoresacks."

Luna grit her teeth.

"It's crumple horned snorkacks. And in order to expand a mind, you must first have a mind. Unfortunately, you seem to be out of luck, wonder you haven't blown yourself up instead of everything else you get your hands on."

"Well, we can't all be the offspring of great publishers of the literary world like you."

It occurred to Luna then why he was being so nasty. Her father had nearly gotten Georges brother Ron killed...because of her. No wonder he hated her.

"Please, I'm tired, I think I'd like to try to sleep."

"Too bad I feel up to talking then isn't it?"

Luna jumped up and walked to edge of the loft.

"I certainly do wish this storm would end. I do hope it won't halt the progress of the repairs to the castle."

She wasn't prepared for the voice that came just over her shoulder.

"We'd all like things we don't get. I certainly don't. I'm sure you'd like for your father not to be in prison for being a filthy snitch to Voldemort."

"Shut your filthy mouth." Luna spun on him

"Hit a nerve have I?"

Luna didn't stop to think, and she didn't hesitate. She wheeled back her fist and punched him as hard as she could. George flew backwards, landing on his back on the canvas.

"You're a stupid pig George Weasley! A stupid pig who runs his mouth about things he is too stupid to understand! My father only did what he did because he had to save me. I'd assume you'd have done the same thing had it been your sister or brothers, then maybe you wouldn't. You seem to be just another heartless bastard without a care to others feelings and fear." Luna was crying furiously "It was my fault, so you just go on ahead and hate me, talk rubbish about me all you wish if it makes you feel like a big man, but leave my father out of it!"

And then she was backing down the ladder and as soon as her feet his the stone of the boathouse floor she was off and running for the stairs.

"Luna, come back!" George yelled "I'm sorry!"

Luna hit the stairs and didn't spare a glance back. Lightning and thunder coursed all around her, the bright flashes and pouring rain blinding her at moments. She didn't care, all she wanted was to be away from that boathouse and George Weaseley's ugly words. Then her bare feet slipped on wet stones and she grasped onto the railing but it slipped underneath her fingers and she fell hard on the stone stairs as a bolt of lightning found purchase on the torch just over where she had fallen.

She lay there breathing hard, the taste of blood full in her mouth. Then she felt hands on her back, gently lifting and turning her.

"Luna? Luna are you okay?" a gentle hand brushed the hair from her face and she found herself looking up into the scared eyes of George Weasley.

George lifted her to her feet and she winced. He yelled over the wind to be heard "The storm is getting worse, we need to get back inside."

Lighting hit a torch several yards up from where they stood and Luna jumped and nodded, allowing him to piggyback her back to the boat house and up the ladder.

George sat her carefully back on the canvas. "Are you badly hurt?" His hand trembled as he examined her split lip.

"What do you care?" Luna said miserably and tried to struggle out of his grasp. "You hate me."

"I don't hate you."

Luna looked at him in surprise, "You don't have to lie."

George sighed and began looking for his wand "I have no reason to hate you." He found his wand and said softly "I can heal your lip, if you feel you can trust me."

Luna wondered at the shift in him. He had been cold before, callus, instead he was now caring and warm. Where he had been cruel, he was now kind. Even his voice and face had changed. He was softer and so gentle, even vulnerable. But then hadn't he shown his vulnerability to her once already, when she had first come across him?

"_... actually ,I came down here so my mum and dad wouldn't have to watch me bawling again. It tends to make them cry and I can't bear being the cause of that."_

Luna nodded "Thank you. I'd appreciate that, it does hurt a bit."

"That was a horrible fall you took." George pointed his wand at her lip and spoke a healing spell. "I thought you'd been struck. It was very close to you."

"No, just me being clumsy I'm afraid" Luna touched her lip "That's much better, thank you."

"You shouldn't have been out there." George lifted the edge of the canvas and pulled it over her and then himself "It's my fault you were. I was a damn bloody arse, and I apologize."

Luna shrugged "You have a right to be angry, you **should** be angry about what my father did" Luna sighed "But please understand, he only did it because he was scared, about what they would do to me. It's really me you should hate, not him."

George shook his head and relaxed back against the wall "I don't hate anyone...look, I'm afraid you had the misfortune to come across me at the worst possible time. I was in full feeling sorry for myself mode. I'm sorry I took it out on you."

Luna looked at him. All his pain and grief seemed to be sitting on the surface now, as if he hadn't the strength to hide it any longer.

"I guess I did the same." She blinked down at her knees "I was trying to outrun my own fear, running into you was a bit like slamming into a brick wall and having them thrown back at me."

"Well, aren't we just a lovely pair of miserable fools?" George's sudden smile caught Luna off guard.

"I'm sorry, for what my father did." She said sadly "It was terrible and unforgivable really."

"No. You were completely right."George shook his head "What your father did was no different from what I or my father would have done had it been Ginny. It's a fathers duty to look after his children first and damn everyone else."

"I'd have told him not to, if I could have." Luna shivered again as the memory of Malfoy Manor swept over her

"Are you still cold?" George fussed with the canvas around her shoulders

"I'm fine." Luna smiled softly "And I forgive you, if you'll forgive me too."

Luna put out her hand and George took it, instead of shaking he kissed her fingers.

"There's nothing to forgive." Luna began to protest and George shushed her "But if it makes _you_ feel better, I forgive you."

Luna wondered at the change in him. He was really quite...charming when he wanted to be.

"This is the George Weasley I remember from the DA." Luna smiled "I like you much better this way."

George smiled and wrapped his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees.

"He's still here somewhere, I think." He turned his head and looked at her "Right now, its hard to see much besides anger and sadness." He closed his eyes and Luna felt her heart ache for him as a wash of tears broke from his eyes, rolled down his cheeks and was absorbed into the canvas. "It hurts so much to think he's never coming back."

George whimpered softly and Luna reached out for him. "Oh George...oh...it's okay."

Looking back George was never really sure how he ended up with his head in Luna's lap sobbing while her hand gently smoothed his hair and she spoke soft words of comfort. The storm outside continued to rage around them and as the storm inside him began to wane George decided that however he had gotten there, where he was, was a very nice place to be.

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Okay, so, this was suppose to be a one-shot but, I don't think I am capable of writing one-shots anymore. I have an idea of how I could go on with this, but first I need to know if anyone thinks I should or not. LoL

So, review and tell me what you think!

BTW, Yeah, I know George is a total ass and out of character...but his brother JUST died 48 hours before this takes place...so...

Anyway, there will be at least one more part to this.

Chapter Two: Dawn

Preview

Not totally sure what will happen yet, I'm still working that out in my head. It will depend on if I decide to take this further or not into Luna's search for answers about her father...with a little help from a certain Weasley.

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	2. Dawn

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-Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the creation of JK Rowling.

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter Two

-Dawn

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George Weasley's lips curved into a small smiled as he buried his hands deeper into the strange softness that lay around his face. Whatever it was, it was as smooth as the sleekest satin and carried the wonderful smell of rain, the freshest ocean air and lilac. George opened his eyes to find himself blinded in a cascade of moonlight and when he lifted his hand to move it aside he realized that it was the same softness that he had buried his hands into just a moment before.

Pushing it aside, he discovered that the delectable softness was hair, and further examination revealed that the hair was attached to a young woman who, though sitting upright, slept soundly above him, her head resting uncomfortably on a rough wooden beam.

Shaking the haze from his mind, he realized that the young woman was Luna Lovegood and he realized then that he had obviously fallen asleep while sobbing in her lap.

George sat up and glanced at his watch. It was still dark, an hour yet to go before dawn and still the storm that had driven them into shelter together still raged around the boat house. Angry bolts of lightning streaked across the black sky making George shiver.

The more he thought the more he remembered, and the more he remembered George felt shame to the depths of his soul as he thought back on his cruelty to the girl next to him sound asleep. He had insulted her, driven her from their shelter and nearly gotten her killed. For a moment he wondered what Fred would say about his behavior, but in truth he didn't have to wonder much, he knew. Fred wouldn't like it one little bit, in fact, there was a good chance that Fred would knock him on his ass for the way he had treated Luna Lovegood.

"Daddy..." her soft voice was heavy with misery as she called out in her sleep. "I can't reach you Daddy..."

George hesitated, wondering if he should wake her from the nightmare but a moment later her eyes opened on their own and she jerked upright with a gasp.

"It's okay" George said softly, his hand on hers "It was only a nightmare."

Slowly the wild look left her eyes and she nodded and sat back against the wall.

"Was it very bad?" George asked her, unsure if he should pry or not.

Luna nodded miserably.

"It's always the same" Her scared voice held the hint of coming tears "Whenever I try to sleep, it comes to me."

Luna wrapped her arms around herself protectively

"I see Azkaban, and my dad is there, I can hear him calling me, and I am so happy because I have finally found him after searching for so long. But I can't get to him. There are dementors and death eaters and so many walls. And just as I am getting closer..." Luna broke off, her voice choked down by emotion as she began to sob.

George an arm around her shoulders and softly rubbed her back. "It's okay. It's only a nightmare. It can't hurt you."

"But it's not just a nightmare...its the truth too. He's still there, somewhere in Azkaban and no one is doing anything to free him and I can't go to him. Like in my dream, and it's the damn ministry that stops me from reaching him!" she finished angrily

George looked at her closely as she pulled away and wiped her face on her sleeve, then smiled at him, embarrassed by her display of temper.

"I wanted to go collect him right away you see? But, but the ministry is not letting anyone near the prison."

"Why not?" George saw her frustration reflected in her eyes.

"Professor McGonagall said they say it is too unstable, and too unsafe. You-know-who had control of it, and he filled it with people he wanted there whether they were innocent or not, and" Her voice became angry again "the ministry has too many other things, more urgent things right now than sorting out the mess of who really belongs there and who doesn't. And until they do..."

"They won't let anyone in or out." George finished for her and she nodded. He felt bad for her, not knowing when or how long it would take and the ministry really had no incentive to dig Azkaban out in a hurry.

"Well, you do have friends with connections, I'm sure Harry would..." George began

"Oh no" Luna looked horrified and shook her head "Merlin's fat house cat, I could never ask Harry's help with my father...not after what my father did."

"But what will you do?"

"Well" She hesitated, unsure if she should trust him or not. "Can you keep a secret? Promise not to tell?"

George gave her a funny look and a smirk

"Have you forgotten who your talking to? Can I keep a secret!" George rolled his eyes

Luna smiled "But I mean, you have to make a specific promise, to me, that you won't tell anyone."

"Cross my heart" George made the accompanying motion with his fingers

"Okay then...see, I've been thinking about it and I have an idea." Luna nodded confidently "The thing is, I'm not some wimpy little girl who is incapable of taking care of herself."

George thought back to Luna's punching him and being sent flying onto his back. He rubbed his jaw unconsciously and grinned.

"No, I would have to say you are quite capable."

Luna grinned a little "I would apologize but for the fact that you totally deserved it."

"Point set and match, Luna Lovegood." George said with a grin. "Now...go on with this plan of yours."

Luna smiled and giggled

"Well, it's simple really. I want to find my father. Even if it means going to Azkaban myself."

"Are you a complete and total nutter?" George looked at her as if her last marble had just dropped from her ear, rolled across the floor and out the door into the great unknown beyond.

George looked at her incredulously "Do you know what's out there? Even in the twenty mile area surrounding Azkaban?"

Luna got to her feet, followed by George

"Yes, There's hundreds of tiny islands, I thought I could use them to watch the prison and gather information before I went in..." she said, as if it was no big deal, and that got under George's skin.

"Yes, There's hundreds of tiny islands alright, where heaven knows what could be hiding out...dementors and death eaters to be sure, not to mention a few hundred dangerous witches and wizards who escaped in the mayhem of the past few months."

The thought of her going out there made cold shivers go up his back. Even in their most fool hardy and reckless days, not even he and Fred would ever have considered something so dangerous. Yet Luna's tone was so matter of fact it was as if she were planning a trip to Daigon Alley.

"I'm not an idiot George, I can take care of myself. I already did some looking into it, most of those islands aren't even islands, they're just sand bars with caves. No one would be hiding out in those. At least not very long. As long as I stick to those..."

"Got it all planned out do you?" George lifted an eyebrow

"Yeah, pretty much" she smiled

"And what about Azkaban island Miss know it all? What about all the barriers, dementors, and charms and oh yeah, almost forgot, ...the _ murders_ running about loose?"

"For your information, I am top of my class in charms, and I can do a Patronus too." She gave George a smug look

"Oh really? What shape does your Patronus take then? A cute little kitty?" George smirked

"It's a rabbit if you must know!" Luna said defensively, giving him a light punch on the shoulder

George grinned "Oh so it's a cute little bunny!" he laughed

"You are so funny George, ha ha." Luna shoved him again and George grabbed her arm just as thunder pounded overhead, instinctively, she jumped closer and his arms tightened around her.

For a long minute they stared into each others eyes, light brown melted into silvery blue and for just a second all was right in the world.

"Um.." George cleared his throat as he dropped his arms, trying to clear his head of the effects of holding Luna Lovegood in his arms.

Luna coughed and turned away to give herself time to collect herself, completely shocked by her own reaction to being held by George Weasley.

"Look, Luna, you can't just do this...it's too dangerous." George came up behind her and put his hand on her arm, turning her around. Luna had to seriously focus herself...what had they been talking about again? Oh...yeah...Azkaban...

"I have to do something!" Luna's nerves were wearing thin. Between the war, the months of worry over her father and George...and the hours just spent arguing with George, and ...George, she was exhausted. Proof of that began to pour down her cheeks in a flood.

"I can't stand it anymore! Don't you see? He's my father George! My father! If it were your father, would you just sit by and do nothing?"

"No. You're right, I wouldn't"

George put an arm around her shoulders, then led her back to the canvas once again and they sat. Luna rested her head on his shoulder and fell back to sleep, her first dreamless sleep in days.

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While she slept, George thought about what he would do now. They had already buried Fred the day before, so he knew the family planned to stay indefinitely until the repairs were completed.

Harry was going to Surrey to check to make sure his family had fared okay, then he was coming strait back. But what was HE going to do?

He thought about the shop in Daigon Alley, just the thought of being there made his stomach turn. He knew that Lee would be fine on his own for a few months, and Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry had said that they would go in and help out too if George didn't feel like he was up to it.

But what he was considering now... it was nothing short of crazy. His parent's, specially his ministry employed father, would kill him if they found out. His mother would send him a howler four times a day for a year, at the very least. He could only imagine what his brothers would do to him...but Ginny, Ginny he thought would understand. She'd hate it, but she'd understand.

Luna had made it pretty clear that George was not going to talk her out of her foolish plan to rescue her father from Azkaban. He could rat her out he supposed, tell someone what she was up to. But that had never really been his style. Besides, she'd hate him forever then.

No, there was only one thing to do. Go with her and help her, watch her back and keep her safe.

And if she didn't like it? Too bad.

But, hopefully, she would like it. George was really beginning to

hope that Luna would like it. He was hoping it a lot. Even if he didn't want to admit it to himself.

He was coming to care for Luna Lovegood.

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Luna opened her eyes to see that the dawn sun was shining beautifully off the ocean with a billion pink and orange topped waves. She felt much better than she had when she had dozed off, much of the exhaustion had left her body and she felt refreshed and energized. The she realized, she was alone.

She stood and climbed down the ladder and found George down on the cliffs, throwing rocks into the water.

"Good morning" he said softly without turning

"Good morning." she smiled shyly. "It's pretty isn't it?

"Yeah it is." He dropped his handful of rocks and turned around "Luna, this thing you're planning, it's insane. It's dangerous...and.."

"We've been through this George, besides, what's it to you anyway?" Luna turned away "If I want to go out and get myself killed, what do you care?"

"I care about you." George sounded hurt as he stepped up to her and turned her to face him. Then he bent down and kissed her cheek, then hovered close to her face, their lips only inches apart "You're my friend Luna."

"I have to do this George, you said you understood." Luna pleaded with him "I can take care of myself."

George took a deep breath "I don't want you to have to."

"What?" Luna looked at him, confused

"I'm not letting you go alone." George gave her a firm look

"What are you saying George? Exactly."

"I'm saying I am going with you."

For a second Luna smiled, and then it vanished

"No, you're not." She shook her head

"Yes, I am."

"No George."

"And why not?"

"You have your whole family who will miss you if something happens to you! No one's going to miss me if..."

"I'll miss you!"

"That's very nice George but..."

"I'm going, or else I'm ratting you out to the ministry." George crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a smug 'AH HA' look.

"You promised!" Luna raged at him with righteous indignation

"Yeah well...I fight dirty when it warrants it...and besides...alls fair in love and war and..." George's cheeks turned pink "Covert missions"

Luna narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine. I'm leaving in one hour. I'm not waiting around either." She turned on her heels and made for the stairs, determined to be ready to leave in fifteen minutes and leave him behind.

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She reached the entrance courtyard in ten minutes flat, proud of her own genius, until...

"Nice try Luna, trying to sneak off without me are ya? It's a good try, but you have to get up a lot earlier in the day if you want to pull one over on George Weasley" George looked smug, rolled his eyes at her and handed her a broom. She looked at it.

"It's Ron's, You do know how to fly don't you?" He looked at her worriedly

"It has been a long time." she admitted

"It's like riding a bike" he said, helping her onto the broom. He grinned "Whatever that is"

George winked and they kicked off into the dawn and the unknown.

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Chapter Three Preview

George and Luna reach the Ocean but are hampered by a

storm and an unwanted visitor in the cave where they've sought shelter

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	3. Rankloch Island

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-Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe is the creation of JK Rowling. All Islands, Sandbars, and Coves are completely of my own creation and and any similarities to Islands, Sandbars and Coves either living or dead are purely coincidental.

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter Three

-Rankloch Island

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Luna Lovegood grit her teeth and pretended not to be bothered by the fact that George Weasley was rolling on the ground having hysterics and laughing like an idiot. After all, if he wanted to look like a damn fool let him, who was she to stop him.

It was the fact that he was laughing at her that she couldn't quite ignore and it might have been easier if she could walk away from him, but she couldn't. Not as long as she was stuck up twenty-five feet off the ground, wandless, in this stupid tree.

"Oh, Luna" George singsonged up to her from the ground, waving her wand "Bet you really wish you had this right now don't you?"

A loud crack later he was sitting next to her on the high branch.

"You know Luna, you really shouldn't have lied about being able to fly a broom." he looked at her, half sincere, a small grin playing about his lips. "You could have badly hurt yourself"

Luna had to fight an urge to push him out of the tree.

"I didn't lie" _'exactly' _she added under her breath

"If you know how to fly" George reasoned "Then how did you managed to land yourself in this tree?"

"I did say it has been awhile didn't I?" Luna narrowed her eyes at him "Of course I've flown before!"

_'First year, in flying lessons, which I tanked badly'_

"Whatever you say" he handed her her wand and with a loud crack he was gone and appeared again on the ground.

"Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation?"

"Uh..."

"You do have your apparration license?"

"Yes, but I've only really done it a couple times...luckily one was when I took the test." she said "I confess, it's not one of my stronger abilities."

George rolled his eyes and with a loud crack he was back up on the branch with her. "I can't believe you actually thought of doing this alone." He put his arm firmly around her and pulled her against him and with a crack they were back on the ground.

"Fortunately for you" George let her go "We've come to the coast. It makes more sense now to travel by boat."

"That's what I thought." Luna nodded "Oh...and wait..." she took her rucksack off her back and began digging in a side pocket where she pulled out a map, which she unfolded.

"Look, I have it all mapped out." The map was covered in multicolored dotted lines, stars, circles, x's and squiggles.

"Luna" George didn't know whether to be amused or dismayed by what she had done to a perfectly good map. "What have you done to this poor, poor innocent map?"

"I routed it" she looked at him like he was an idiot for not understanding "Look... the dotted lines are the directions of the tides. We need to be careful since we are going to be keeping close to sandbars , unless we want to end up washed up somewhere at low tide. The stars and circles are the larger Islands and sandbars, thats where their will be a lot of room to hide, more caves, more vegetation, we want to avoid those because logically speaking, thats where the dangerous escapees will probably have fled to."

George looked at her, a whole new respect growing for her

"What about these?" He pointed to the X's

"The x's are natural cold pocket's, historically for some reason those places are much colder than others, so they are thought to be whole Islands of dementors."

"And the squiggles?"

"The squiggles, are tiny islands, coves and sandbars with single caves that I think will be safe to camp in. I think we should go really slow, take our time and not push it. Particularly when we get close to Azkaban Island."

George watched her, impressed in spite of himself. When she said she had it all planned out he hadn't taken her seriously, but it seemed she really did have a plan.

"This is our first stop" She pointed to a blue squiggle mark on the map, then looked up and smiled as she made the spot on the map glitter with her wand

"Rankloch Island."

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George was laughing at her again, but this time, Luna didn't mind much. She thought it was kind of funny herself, the way she involuntarily grunted every time she pulled on the oars of the boat.

"Come on Luna, pull"

_grunt_

He would laugh that wonderful full rich laugh that she was coming to appreciate.

"and, pull"

_grunt_

"Oh come now._.._your exaggerating just a bit." he grinned at her and took another bite of his cold pork and beans.

"I most certainly am not." Luna looked at him indignantly "And I'll thank you not to mock me, considering I offered to row for you while you ..." but his attention wasn't on her, it had shifted to the sky and she looked up. "Oh no."

"I know...those clouds don't look at all good, do they?"

Luna had gone to her rucksack and was digging for the map. She pulled it out and unfolded it, then looked around.

"There!" she pointed "George, Rankloch Island is right over there. Can you get us there?"

"Sure as hell can try." he switched places with Luna and rowed like mad until finally, just as it was beginning to rain, they skimmed a tiny Island. Rankloch Island consisted of two tree's, a cave barely big enough to hold two people and two rucksacks and not a thing more, and that was cramped. As their wasn't enough room to lay out both sleeping bags flat, they resolved themselves to sleeping atop one and covering with the other.

"George, what did you do with the can opener?" Luna asked, digging through the rucksacks as it began to get later

"I must have left it in the boat." He looked at her with a frustrated groan. As she moved toward the cave opening he stopped her "No, I'll go." And he dashed back out into the heavy rain and wind.

It wasn't but a moment later that Luna heard him yell and went running out after him

"What is it?" She asked

"The boat!" Their boat had come loose and sank back into the heavy waves and was by now a good distance away.

"Accio boat!" he tried but his voice was drown out by the heavy winds.

"Accio Boat!" It was still no good.

"I'm going to apparrate out to it and row it back!" he yelled to her over the wind "Okay?"

"George!" Luna looked at him with wide, fearful eyes "Be careful!"

He smiled at her "Ain't I always?" And then he was gone. With great relief Luna saw him reappear in the boat a second later and he gave her the thumbs up just before he took up the oars and began to row.

A huge bolt of lightning struck overhead and Luna was temporarily blinded and as her vision cleared there were blobs in the way, blocking her view that hadn't been there before. She blinked her eyes rapidly, willing them to clear faster and when they finally cleared she opened them to find that the black blobs were three dementors, and George was under attack.

"_Expecto Patronum!" _The silver rabbit shot out from the end of her wand and soared over the water toward the boat, but it was eaten by the storm before it was half way.

"No!" she screamed! _"Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!"_

This time two silver rabbits soared over the water, but once again, both were swallowed by the storm, and now, Luna could no longer see George in the boat, only his hand, hanging pitifully over the side.

Her only chance was to apparate to the boat, as George had. "But I can't! I can't do that!" she screamed out into the storm

Then, a voice rang out through her head, and through her heart.

"Fuck can't!"

It was George Weasley's voice.

"I can too do this! To the boat! I want to go to boat!" At first, she only turned into the circle and she stomped her foot in frustration. "I can too fucking do this!" and she twisted again "To the boat! With George!"

And then she was there...in the boat and she was with George.

"_Expecto Patronum!" _The silver rabbit shot out of the end of her wand knocking first one, then two, then the last of the dementors away before it disappeared into the storm.

"Thank you" Luna sank to her knees at George's side "Thank you."

. She tried to lift her arms to row but found she just didn't have the strength. Instead she waved her wand over the boat. _"Wingardium Leviosa"_

And directed it back to the tiny Island and set the boat down in the middle of it. Then, she levitated George in and gently lay him down and rid him of his wet clothes and covered him, praying that he would awake.

What if she was too late? What if George Weasley, that sweet, funny boy, was now reduced to nothing but a soulless shell?

If he was, it was all her fault.

He had asked, hell, begged her not to come here.

When he started muttering in his sleep, she nearly fell over with relief, but the relief was short lived as his muttering turned quickly into raving and ranting...after effects of the attack of the dementors. He gnashed his teeth and trembled terribly while sweat glistened on his skin and Luna sat by his side in tears, feeling at fault for not getting to him sooner and totally helpless for someway to calm him.

Then, instinct took over and she lay down next to him and pulled him into her arms, lay his head on her chest as if he were a small child, then, she stroked his back and gently massaged his scalp while she sang softly to him, a beautiful melody that she remembered from so long ago.

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_Sweet precious one_

_don't be alarmed_

_I've come my dear one, _

_to keep you from harm_

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_take hold of my hand_

_fly with me_

_I'll take you away_

_far from this angry sea_

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_to a land of princes and princesses_

_and magic rings_

_with iced sugar castles_

_and other nice things_

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_nothing to fear sweet one_

_you'll come to no harm_

_Just go on and dream, love_

_you're safe in my arms._

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Luna was unaware that she had an attentive audience until she felt his arms tighten around her and his lifted his head from her chest and looked at her.

"That was nice."

Luna blushed to the roots of her hair, but she smiled with relief.

"You're better, thank heavens, I was so worried." she let go of him and sat up, wiping her cheeks.

"You were you crying? For me?" He touched her arm and she nodded and turned to him with a bit of temper.

"What do you think? That I'm some unfeeling ...some...uh!" she started crying again and she buried her face in her hands. George sat up and put his arms around her and held her close.

"Luna, you're shaking." he gently rubbed her back and nuzzled her head with his cheek.

"I was so scared!" She sobbed, letting herself sag against him "My patronus, it kept evaporating before it reached you! I had to apparate out to you and I was afraid I was too late by the time I did it. Then you started ranting and yelling in your sleep...and I didn't know how to calm you down... so I...I..."

"I remember." he smiled and gave her a squeeze as he laid back down, pulling Luna down with him and resting her in his arms, thankful for the cramped quarters giving him an excuse to do just that.

"Are you okay now?" she looked at him with deep concern in her eyes

"I think so. I feel a bit like I was knocked silly or something, but I'm sure it's nothing a little sleep won't take care of." he yawned "I'm proud of you Luna, I swear, I'll never make fun of your cute bunny Patronus ever again."

"I should think not." she giggled "I'm surprised you can't make one."

"Never really got beyond the silver shield stage before the DA got busted, and since then, well, this is the first time I've seen a dementor since. Maybe I should be practicing though."

They got quiet for a moment and then...

"The song really was beautiful" George smiled and brushed a lock of hair back from her face "Where did you learn it?"

Luna smiled shyly "My mum. She use to sing it to me whenever I was sick. Before she died anyway. It's kind of like part of my inheritance from her, it's been passed down for hundreds and hundreds of years, mother to daughter, so she made sure that I knew the words almost as soon as I could speak."

"And you sang it for me?"

George was really touched by the gesture, more than if she had given him a huge pile of galleons. It was something precious to her, from the heart, and he knew he would always cherish the memory of it.

Luna floundered for an explanation, worried that he might be upset with her. "You were in horrible shape, ranting and screaming out. It always use to calm me...so...I was scared George, I didn't know what else to do."

George lifted her chin so he could see her face "You did the perfect thing."

"Did I?" she asked, her voice still full of doubt

"You saved my life, you got me to safety and then you calmed me down when I started freaking out." He smiled and brushed her cheek with his thumb "Yeah, I'd say you did just perfect."

Luna looked at him with a hint of a smiled on her face and George was hit with an irresistible urge that he simply could not fight. He bent his head, and kissed her.

"Thank You for saving my life Luna."

It was far too quick, and far from as passionate as George would have liked, in fact...it was far too much like kissing his auntie Muriel.

But, there were still plenty of islands ahead.

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Chapter Four Preview

Unsure right now, sorry,

I think this story is going to be a lot of

taking the ideas as they come!

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-AN: --"Far From The Angry Sea", the song that Luna sings to George, was written by me specifically for this story. It is NOT to be taken and used for other fictions.

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	4. Lewej Cove Part I

-Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe is the creation of JK Rowling. All Islands, Sandbars, and Coves are completely of my -own creation and and any similarities to Islands, Sandbars and Coves either living or dead are purely coincidental.

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The Storm Before Dawn

Chapter Four

Lewej Cove

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The day after the storm brought a brilliant sunrise and George woke feeling better than ever with no ill effects whatsoever from his close call with the dementors. He was his usual bright cheery self the moment his eyes popped open and ready to continue their adventure.

Luna on the other hand seemed out of sorts, jumpy, and quieter than normal. Her head sagged over the map while she tried to slog down her cup of instant tea and she seemed to be shivering. George was beginning to worry, wondering if she was still shaken from the events the night before.

"Luna, are you okay?" he asked

"I'm fine" her voice was just short of surly, and she didn't bother to look up from the map.

George continued to pile their things back in the boat, feeling somewhat hurt by her manner after the things that had passed between them the night before. He had thought that they were growing closer, moving towards...something.

So much of the night was a blur after he had apparated into the boat from the tiny Island. All he really remembered was looking up and seeing three black shapes hovering over him and then his entire body feeling like it had been encased in ice as every bit of happiness and hope was drained out of it. Then, just before everything went black, he heard the most horrible screaming...like that night, the night of the battle of Hogwarts, the screams of people dying around him.

The next thing he remembered was waking to incredible warmth, and her arms soothing him. And Luna's voice, singing softly to him.

George could have stayed there in her arms forever and been perfectly content.

"Lewej Cove" Luna said stepping into the boat

"Pardon me?" George looked at her, confused. Obviously he had missed something somewhere.

She smiled a little then,and George noticed that she looked a little pale.

"Sorry, I am a little tired today I guess. I'm spacing out here and there. Lewej Cove is our next stop, it's not too far, but we should get a move on, in case more storms come."

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked pushing the boat into the water and jumping in "You look a little pale."

"Well, it is all your fault." Luna said with a small smile. "For giving me such a bad scare last night."

George laughed "Oh, my fault"

"Mmhmm, I didn't really sleep well, so you'll just have to promise me, cross your heart, that you will never scare me like that again." Luna looked up and George could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes and it made his stomach do flip flops.

He smiled ear to ear as he finished setting the oars "But then you'd never have a reason to sing to me again."

Luna narrowed her eyes at him "Why of all the low down sneaky..."

"There's a simple solution really" George said with a shrug as they hit open water.

Luna looked at him skeptically "And that is?"

George grinned hugely "Promise you'll sing for me again."

Luna rolled her eyes "Really George, I'm not even that good."

George looked at her with a bit of anger in his eyes "Will you stop doing that?"

Luna looked up, shocked at his tone "What?"

"Discounting everything you do." Luna looked away from him

"I think it was beautiful."

"Luna, this is traditionally where you say 'thank you'" Luna looked back to see George grinning at her and she couldn't resist letting a few giggles escape.

"Thank you." She said, graciously

"See, was that so hard?" George prodded

"I guess not." Luna grudgingly admitted

"Now" George smirked "All you have to do is promise to sing to for me again, I'll promise never to scare you again and we'll be all set." he wiggled his eyebrows at her and Luna couldn't resist laughing

with him.

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Hours later they were still arguing a deal. Luna growing more and more tired, had rested her head on the side of the boat, enjoying the cool splash of the surf.

Then George made a face, a irresistible, sad puppy, pouty face, complete with bottom lip sticking out about a mile, complete with adorable light brown eyes.

"Pweeze?"

"Oh, now is that fair?" Luna said between giggles

"Alls fair in love, war and ...and...guys getting pretty girls to sing to them." George said with a sheepish grin

"Oh..." Luna rolled her eyes "Oh all right. But you have to promise too. No more scaring me like you did last night."

George grinned, she was too easy. "Deal."

"Deal" Luna leaned forward to shake and when she leaned backwards she wavered and grabbed onto the sides of the boat.

"Luna! Are you okay?"

"Yeah" she said and tried to smile, but it came off as more of a grimace "I just got a little dizzy, that's all"

"Are you sure you're okay?" George asked, his eyes widened with concern

"Yes, I told you, I'm just tired, that's all. I didn't sleep well last night."

George looked at her skeptically, deciding it was pointless to argue with her now since there was nothing he could do anyway.

"So, how far away are we from this cove?"

"We should be hitting it pretty soon actually. It's hidden by an over cropping of rock, that's why I told you to come close in to the left." Luna smiled

George pointed "You mean that, over there?"

Luna pulled the map out and consulted it, a smile spread across her face. "Yes, that's it! It has to be. Go more in towards it George."

"Luna, if we go in much more, were going to hit the rock." George rolled his eyes

Luna sat up and pulled out her wand. "No we won't. Watch."

She began moving her wand in odd motions over the rock, until sparkles began to form in an outline and George realized she had been drawing the outline of a diamond. It glittered brilliantly in the sunshine for a moment, and then the wall of rock vanished to reveal a cove that was like having a chunk of a jungle paradise transplanted in their miserable stretch of ocean.

"Brilliant" George said with an awed look on his face as he took in the the sparkling blue water that suddenly replaced the murky ocean water that he was steering them out of. "How..."

Luna grinned broadly "My secret."

George laughed as the boat skimmed the bottom of the beach

"You know, I have ways of making people talk." He said as he jumped out of the boat to pull it up to secure it.

"I'm sure you do." Luna laughed as she got out of the boat and caught his hand "Come on, I want to show you something."

"What about..." He laughed as she drug him up the beach toward a cave entrance

"It can wait." She smiled "Close your eyes"

"Luna, really..."

Luna pulled a pouty face like George had earlier and he laughed and gave in. Once she was sure he wasn't peaking she took his hands and pulled him inside the small cave.

"Can I open them yet?" He asked

"Not just yet" Luna said, pulling him further into the cave

"Your not trading me to some Native village chief for something are you?" George teased

"Really George!" Luna said indignantly "As if I would even consider such a thing..."

"Never know...never know..." he teased

"That's true..." she said thoughtfully "well, maybe I'd do it for double peanut butter or chocolate mint chip cookies."

George stopped abruptly and lifted an eyebrow.

"You'd trade me ...for cookies?"

Luna looked at him with a mischievous grin "You're absolutely right George, what am I thinking. I could never do that."

"I should hope not." George crossed his arms

"Not unless milk is part of the deal, can't have cookies without milk after all." Luna giggled at the look on his face, somewhere between a laugh and indignation, but the laugh won out.

"Okay, I deserved that." He grinned "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Oh!" Luna laughed "Yes, yes you can."

George opened his eyes and found himself standing in the most incredible place he had ever been. Aside from the shallow pool and the floor, every inch of the cave was covered in jewels. Diamonds, rubies, saphires, emeralds, jasper, peridot, and blue topaz covered every last inch of the cave.

"Bloody ...hell" Georges eye's were as round as saucers and he looked like the proverbial little boy in the candy store. "Are they..."

"Real?" Luna asked with a small smile "Yes, they are very real." she walked over the the floor and picked up three loose jewels, two diamonds and an emerald, that had come loose and fallen to the ground. "Come here" she waved him to the opening of the cave and he followed.

Luna smiled sweetly "Watch." she opened the hand that held the jewels and within seconds, all three jewels had been reduced to white sand.

"When my parents were courting, they didn't have much money so when they married, my father wanted to give my mother a nice honeymoon. He traveled all the way to Africa, the searched and searched the African jungles looking for the perfect place."

"And this is what he found?" George smiled softly

Luna nodded "He didn't realize at the time how rich the cave was in jewels. Of course, the last thing he wanted was for this beautiful place to be looted. So, he put a curse on the cave, so that any jewels removed from the cave would be turned to sand. My dad remembered what it was like though, to not have a lot of money, so he made an exception...that is, that a man truly in love, may take one diamond to gift his intended with."

"I had no idea that your father was so kind."George smiled and took her hand, wiping the sand from it. "I guess that must be where you get it from then."

Luna felt the tingle building in her toes and working its way up her calves and over her kneecaps. It crawled up her thighs and over her hips, seized her stomach with an iron fist and squeezed tightly before pushing her heart into her throat where it fluttered and throbbed.

Everything in her wanted to ask if this was just another joke, like hiding her things had been. But if this was a joke, it was a terribly extravagant one. And if George Weasley was acting out a prank, well then, he was one hell of a good actor.

Luna gave George a weak smile then turned away and went towards the boat to get her things. She was tired, she didn't even feel hungry. All she wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep.

Sleep...ah yes...wonderful release from the worries and cares of normal life. Sleep, where anything and everything is possible.

Luna shook out her sleeping bag and lay down atop it, even though it was still only early evening.

"Luna?" George asked "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yeah" Luna smiled up at him "I'm sure, don't worry so much."

"Go to sleep, I'll wake you when dinners ready." George covered her with his sleeping bag and went off to gather fire wood.

It was several hours later that George approached Luna again to wake her to eat the evening meal.

"Luna." Luna lay on her stomach and she didn't move, she didn't make a single sound

"Luna." George nudged her shoulder with his bare toe "Dinners ready"

"Luna!Luna!" George yelled, fear seeping into every fibre of his being. "Luna!"

He tossed the plate that he had been holding aside, dropped down onto his knees and pulled the blankets away from her still form. Carefully her rolled her over onto her back.

Her clothing was damp with her sweat and George could feel the heat of fever burning through them. He propped her up in his lap and felt her forehead.

"Damn it Luna!" he cursed as he lifted the damp hair from her face and pulled it away from her neck "You're burning up! Why the hell didn't you tell me you were sick?!"

George kissed her forehead, then went to find cool water to sponge her face with.

It was going to be a long night.

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Chapter Five Preview

Lewej Cove Part II

George nurses Luna back to health

which of course, leads to some

ahem, embarrassing moments. lol

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	5. Lewej Cove Part II

-Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe is the creation of JK Rowling. All Islands, Sandbars, and Coves are completely of my -own creation and and any similarities to Islands, Sandbars and Coves either living or dead are purely coincidental.

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I am SO sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, I had a really hard time with the first part of it where it is just George so if it sounds lame and shitty, that's why. I promise to try and do better. --CJ

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The Storm Before Dawn

Chapter Five

Lewej Cove

Part II

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"Damn stubborn witch" George Weasley softly cursed Luna Lovegood out for what must have been the hundredth time in the past three hours as he sat next to her, gently wiping her face and neck with a cloth soaked in cool water, hoping to bring her fever down.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me you didn't feel good?" He questioned as he rearranged her soft blonde hair around her head to give him better access to the back of her neck.

"I'm just tired, I'm just tired" he mimicked in a high imitation of Luna's voice and then sighed deeply, returned the cloth to the bowl and shifted from his knees to lay on his side with his head propped in his hand to pass more time watching her sleep.

All in all, it wouldn't be a bad way to pass time, if Luna wasn't so pale and if George hadn't been aware of just how sick she was. He lifted his hand to her brow only to discover that her fever wasn't breaking, if anything she seemed to be growing hotter.

He contemplated apparating her back to Hogwarts, but he was quite aware if he did that, there would be questions about where they had been the past three days, and once people found out, namely his parents, there would be no coming back.

Before he had left, he'd left a note for Ginny, saying only that he had gone with Luna to help her with a problem at home. It wasn't exactly a lie, the fact that her father wasn't at home was a problem for Luna. Anyway, George decided he would only consider going back as a last resort. If for no other reason than the fact that if he got them stuck back at Hogwarts, Luna would kill him. He wasn't exactly keen on the idea of being punched by her again.

George reached over and brushed the back of his fingers over her cheeks and forehead again. She was burning up, and he couldn't just ignore it anymore. He had to do ...something, but what? His only option as he could see it was to get her cooled down as fast as possible by putting her in the cool water of the shallow pool inside the cave. The only problem was...he couldn't very well put her into the water fully clothed.

Instantly he felt a hot blush work it's way up his neck, over his cheeks and up into his hair.

"This is nuts" he said, giving himself a firm shake as he went to his rucksack to dig out a towel. It wasn't exactly like he was an innocent twelve year old. He had seen naked witches before,in _Nasty Naughty Witches_ magazine that he and Fred had kept hidden under their mattresses, at least until their Mum had found them and incendioed the hell out of them. George grinned a little, remembering how s she had set them so many lines it took them most of the summer to finish them, and all they had done was find a better hiding place.

And then there had been the hole in the wall of the Gryffindor boys shower that led to the girls, and the hole in the shower rooms in the Quidditch locker rooms. George had been quite aware of all of them of course, since he had taken part in putting them there in the first place, first to eavesdrop on team planning sessions,and then later other uses were discovered. Between one hole or another, he figured he had seen a great number of the girls at Hogwarts naked.

But Luna was different, and he was kidding himself if he tried to pretend otherwise. He never felt anything for any of those girls. With them, it was just the usual fare, going along with what Fred and Lee were doing at the time. Not that he didn't get some enjoyment out of it, he wasn't weird or anything and he certainly wasn't gay. He just never felt anything beyond a temporary rush of excitement that never stayed with him much beyond a moment or two.

But just the _thought_ of Luna naked was making his mind and blood rush to places it had no business rushing to, and she was seriously sick too! George stopped and took a deep breath then pinched himself so hard on the inside of his of his arm that he yelled out.

When they were younger, Fred had been the cool collected one, and George was always the hyper, jumpy sort. Always. when they were waiting for some kind of great explosion to take place or for someone to come and step in an unfortunate spot, George couldn't stay still. All it took was a pinch from Fred, that had always been Fred's surefire way of calming him down when he got over excited and it never failed, and it didn't fail him now either.

George knelt next to Luna and unzipped the sleeping bag, then covered her with the towel. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it covered her from the tops of her shoulders to just below her calves. He carefully went about unbuttoning her shirt and pulling it from her shoulders, closing his eyes, just in case something popped out that he shouldn't see.

Once her shirt was removed he unbuttoned and unzipped her pants, then slid them down her legs and pulled them over her feet, then pulled off her socks. He looked at her for a moment, wondering about her underclothing and a horrible blush spread over him that nearly knocked him onto his knees. He decided then that her underclothes were staying put, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

He quickly changed into a pair of shorts, then wrapped the towel tightly around her and tucked it in place, and then lifted her in his arms and carried her to the shallow freshwater pool and stepped into the tepid water. Looking around him, George quickly found a submerged rock and eased down on it, taking care not to introduce Luna to the cool water too fast.

Once he had her fully submerged, he sat with her on his lap, her head resting on his shoulder while he poured water on her hair and face from his hand. Full darkness had fallen and the only light came from the fire on the other side of the cave and George began to feel more and more uncomfortable as the quiet stretched on and on.

He found himself wishing that he could remember the words to the song that she had sung to him the night before, the one that her mother had sang to her when she was sick. All that came to him was single snippets about princes and princesses, magic rings and iced sugar castles.

George thought hard about his own childhood, trying to remember of all the times he had been sick or hurt and his mother had sang to him, but his mother didn't like to sing solo. She was great with the radio, but singing alone...she always said that it was kinder for her to just hum. George's head filled instantly with the melodies that she would hum to him, but somehow it didn't seem right to hum, not after Luna had sang so beautifully for him the night before when he needed soothing.

He thought then of the songs that he and Fred use to sing when they were young, silly made up songs and the ones they sang when they were older were absolutely not proper to sing to a young lady.

But then he remembered once how Percy had entertained him and Fred when they where eight and stuck in bed one summer with dragonpox by sitting with them all afternoon and making up story after story. It wasn't a song, but, come to think of it, it might be kinder for him not to sing...

_"Once upon a time, there were two wizard princes named Fred and George and both of them were in love with two Beautiful princesses who lived on the hill named..."_

George hesitated...

_"...named Huna and Luna."_

_'Huna? Oh Great, Good one ' _George grimaced _'Well, what the hell else rhymes with Luna...Tuna?'_

George shook himself with a small grin.

_"Anyway, they were madly in love with ...Huna and Luna see, so one day they decided to go and ask them to marry them. So they went all the way to the castle on the hill to see Huna and Luna"_

George rolled his eyes as he continued to pour water in Luna's hair

_"When they got there at first they were so struck by how beautiful the princesses were because they had this brilliant long flowing hair, the color of moonlight and huge silvery blue eyes and skin like...like fine china, they were so beautiful the princes weren't able to say a word, they just stood there and babbled and drooled like a couple of nutters while Huna and Luna laughed behind their fans. Well, after a couple of hours Fred and George ran out of drool or something because they were finally able to talk and they bent down on one knee and asked the princesses to marry them."_

_"But Huna and Luna instead of saying yes started crying and said how they couldn't because a ...a...um...oh! See, Two nasty blokes, ... a bloke named Moldywarts and one named Snape had stolen their fathers golden snitch and he was only going to give it back if Huna and Luna came over to Moldywarts castle and hung out forever. Well, Fred and George decided then and there that they couldn't let their women go to Moldywarts and Snape. So they left and promised the princesses they would return with their fathers golden snitch._

_"They journeyed for months and months to get to Moldywarts castle and when they got there their was a big battle and George beat the shit out of Moldywarts and Fred punched Snape in his big nose and took back Huna and Luna's father's golden snitch and then they journeyed for months and months to get back to the castle on the hill._

_"When they got back Huna and Luna's father was so happy to have his snitch back he knighted them and made them beaters on the kingdom Quidditch team and gave them permission to marry his daughters. So Fred married Huna and George married Luna and Fred and George played on the kingdom Quidditch team and Huna and Luna had a load of babies and they all lived happily ever after."_

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George looked down at Luna's sleeping face and brushed the backs of his fingers over her flushed cheek.

"Please wake up Luna. Please?" He poured another handful of water over her forehead

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He had no idea how long he had dozed off, but George opened his eyes to total darkness, the fire had nearly burned down to nothing and something kept poking him in the arm. He closed his eyes again and the poking continued, more and more insistent.

"George"

The voice was hoarse, barely a whisper, but it was enough to send George flying out of his sleeping bag and to his knees in an instant. Luna lay looking up at him, she was still horribly pale and his hand on her forehead confirmed that she was still burning up.

"What's going on?" She asked softly "I feel wretched"

"You've been sick, very very sick." George tried to stop her as she struggled to sit up "What do you think you're doing? Lie down!"

"But George...I have to pee." Luna looked at him

"Oh" a slight blush tinged the bridge of his nose "Well let me help you."

He helped her to her feet and led her outside

"Could you leave me alone now?" She asked

"No." George crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head

"George!"

"Luna!" George mimicked as he leaned against a tree

Luna looked at him in exasperation, realizing he meant what he said she considered the alternative. "Will you at least turn around?"

George looked at her for a minute and then turned "Fine."

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Luna had just finished washing up and George led her back and tucked her back into her sleeping bag, then he brought water and soup and insisted she eat and drink. George sat behind her so she could lean up against him while she ate.

"Thank you." She said as she attempted to eat the soup "I can't believe I slept for fourteen hours."

"Drink some more water." George ordered

"Yes Sir" Luna rolled her eyes and laughed "I had such funny dreams"

"Dreams?" George handed her soup back

She nodded "I dreamed I lived in a castle on a hill and I was laughing at you...and something about a golden snitch, and Quidditch."

"Well" George was grateful she was in front of him so she couldn't see his face. "You did have a high fever"

"Do you promise you didn't peek when you were taking off my clothes to bathe me?" Luna turned her head and looked up at him

"Oh, now you've gone and done it"

"What?"

"I'm injured, wounded, possibly beyond repair at you're lack of trust in me." George crossed his arms.

"All the girls know about the holes in the Quidditch locker room, they just let you look." Luna said nonchalantly "They also know that you and your brother put them there."

"They do not."

"Do too."

"How do you know?"

"You just told me."

George looked at her mouth agape

Luna laughed softly, set the soup bowl aside and relaxed against him "It's okay George, I trust you."

"I think I understand now." George said softly as he curled a lock of her hair around his finger

"What do you mean?"

"How you felt standing on the beach the other night on Rankloch Island, when I was being attacked by the dementors."

He brushed his hand gently down the back of her head and buried his nose in her hair.

"When I couldn't wake you up last night, I've only felt fear like that once before."

"George..."

"You know, it's true what they say, about the bond between twins. Theirs a bond there that's unlike anything else, it's like having your own communication network you know? Nobody had to tell me that Fred was dead, I felt it, the moment that he passed from life to death."

Luna reached down, took his hands and held them tightly between hers.

"My heart stopped for a couple seconds, and I couldn't breathe, and there was pain in my head and shoulders...and then there was nothing but that fear and an instant later, the fear was replaced with the knowledge that my brother was gone."

Luna turned so she could look at him and she cupped his cheek in her hand.

"I'm so sorry George. You've lost so much, and here you are worrying about me and my father. You're an amazing person, I hope you know."

"I want to be here."

"Why?"

"Do you really not know?"

Luna shook her head "I'm just...just Loony Lovegood."

"Yes?" George rolled his eyes and cupped her cheeks "Well, then I am irresistibly drawn to Loony Lovegood. She makes me smile and laugh, she gives me a safe place to cry and she sings to me when I am sick."

"and I make you afraid...you said..." Luna said softly

"Yeah, there's that" George let go of her and picked up her hands and kissed them both in turn. "You just have to make me the same promise I made you."

"Promise?"

"Never to scare me like that again."

"I can promise that." Luna smiled "But George, anything beyond that...I can't make any other promises, or plans until I know about my father." Luna yawned and covered her mouth.

"You need to rest and get your strength back" George put his arms around her pulled her against him.

"The rest, let's just take it as it comes."

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Chapter 6 Preview

Taking it as it comes. Sounds simple right?

but it's not as simple as it sounds...

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	6. Etif Island

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-Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling

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-Note: Again, sorry it took me a bit to get this chapter out, its that real life thing you know? Updates will be a little slower for the next couple of weeks because my daughter is attending school online and we only have one connection for now, so, I can't get on as much. But I will get on as often as possible. The good news is, I have decided to write a couple more chapters in The Eighth Year and Beautiful Consequences. I know Beautiful Consequences is seriously due for an update, but I just came up with a great idea to extend the story and I MAY run with it, it should extend it by at least ten chapters maybe more, Ive been dragging my feet over writing the last chapter cause I didn't WANT to end it! I LOVE that story! I do have a sequel in the works, I can tell you now, that it is a next generation fic, involving all the babies who were just born in Beautiful Consequences, some canon, some of my creation.

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But for now, onto chapter 6!

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter 6

- Etif Island

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_The echoing sound of her heels following her was the only noise as Luna walked down the dark, lonely corridor. She had no idea where George had disappeared to, only that he was gone and that she was now all alone in Azkaban prison. Floor after floor, cell after cell, all were empty and no one even tried to block her way as they had the other times she had attempted to come to rescue her father. _

_There were no death eaters patrolling the corridors. No dementors outside the glassless windows, no human guards with angry faces brandishing their wands in her face with threats to leave or face the horrible consequences for defiance, and there were no ministry officials blocking her way, telling her that she couldn't come in. _

_Her path to her father was clear at last! But also absent was her father's voice calling out to her, his hand didn't reach to her from a window just beyond her reach. Luna walked along in silence until she had reached the very top floor and a dim illumination over in the most distant corner caught her eye. _

_The cell door opened easily and she pushed it aside. A heap lay in the corner covered by a filthy sheet, there was no sound or movement and as scared as she was, she had to look. Luna reached out for the sheet and pulled it back, but it wasn't her father, it was George, and he was dead... _

"_NO!"_

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"NO!" Luna sat up wide eyed as the violent screams tore from her throat and echoed loudly in the jewel filled cave. She put shaking hands to her face as George sat up groggily next to her, woken from his own sound sleep.

"Luna? What's wrong?" He put a hand to her forehead "Do you feel sick again?" A look of worry crossed his face as he got a good look at the expression on her face.

"Luna, what happened? Your shaking like mad." He put his arms around her and pulled her into his arms.

"A nightmare..." Luna wrapped her arms around him tightly and buried her face in his neck. "A very horrible nightmare. Hold me, please?" Her voice was frightened and she had begun to cry.

"I am." George said softly into her ear

"I can't feel you." Luna whimpered

George tightened his arms around her "I've got you, you're safe."

George lightly stroked her hair and back and talked softly to her until she was soothed and relaxed again, then she pulled back and wiped her face with a little laugh.

"I'm being silly I suppose, reacting so. It was just a nightmare after all."

George shrugged "It's not silly if it scared you. Sometimes nightmares can be as real as the real thing. And you have just been sick, your resistance is down too."

"That's true" Luna nodded "I didn't even think of that." Luna felt a bit of relief. Now that she was calm she was feeling a little funny about the fact that she had dreamed about George instead of her father, like she was totally losing the point of why they were out here in the first place. This wasn't suppose to be some big romantic escapade. George was there to protect her, to help her get her father back. End of story. They weren't suppose to fall in love...

now she was having nightmares...about George Weasley.

But George **_had_ **told her he had feelings for her...three days ago, when she had first woken from being so sick. The three days since had been so wonderful. Simple lazy days spent together while she rested and regained her strength. They hadn't done anything special, a lot of talking, playing exploding snap, making silly transfiguration challenges to one another with their wands. The day before she had felt perfect, but George had insisted she give it one more day, so they spent the day swimming in the clear blue water in the cove and diving using the bubblehead charm.

They'd made an early night of it because Luna, having just been sick and not used to so much activity yet, had been exhausted, planning to leave Lewej cove at first light.

"It must have been bad" George brushed a handful of plentiful long blonde hair out of her face and behind her ear "You're still shaking."

"It was wretched." Luna whispered "The worst."

George took her hand "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Uh..." _No...that was the last thing Luna wanted to do_. She didn't want to relive it, and she didn't want George to know just how much she cared.

"I don't think I can..." she shook her head

"Why not?" George looked worried again

"I just don't."

"I get it." George let go of her hand and shook his head.

"What?" look screwed up her eyebrows

"After all this time, and all we've been through together, you still don't trust me." He looked so hurt Luna felt like a complete git.

"Don't be daft! Of course I trust you George! I wouldn't be here with you if I didn't trust you." Luna looked chagrined

"Fine, go back to sleep." George lay back in his sleeping bag and turned his back on her and Luna sat watching his back for a long time, afraid to go back to sleep, afraid the nightmare would return.

Finally she laid down next to George and put her arms around him. He sighed deeply and turned around.

"You okay?" He asked softly as he brushed his thumb over her cheek

She nodded "I feel badly that you think I don't trust you."

George was quiet for minute and then he said "I don't know what to think anymore Luna. You told me more the first night we were stranded in the boathouse at Hogwarts than you told me tonight, do you realize that? You don't have to be a genius to figure it out."

"I do too trust you!"

"Do not."

"Do..."

"Not."

"Fine, I'll prove it."

"Going to tell me about your nightmare?" George challenged

Luna felt trapped "Uh...no."

"See?"

"I'll let you kiss me."

George wasn't sure what he was expecting...but it wasn't that and he would have been the first to admit he was shocked that he found it insulting.

"You'll let me kiss you?"

"Yes." she nodded, seeming pleased with herself

"To prove you trust me?"

"Well...when you put it that way..."

"And that's the only reason?"

"I didn't say that!"

"You implied it."

Now Luna was angry. "If you don't want to kiss me, just say so!"

"If that's the only reason, then no, I don't."

"FINE DON'T THEN!" Luna yelled, turned and wriggled as far away from him as possible.

"I WON'T!" George yelled back and turned around grumbling to himself about unreasonable, incorrigible, witches until somehow he managed to drift off back to sleep.

Once Luna was sure he was asleep she allowed herself to cry. She had thought she was being so brilliant, the perfect way to get him to kiss her without having to admit her feelings for him. Who would have thought that George would refuse to kiss her? She had wanted him to, she had wanted him to so badly and it had zilch to do with proving she trusted him.

George and Luna barely spoke ten words to one another the entire morning. When George asked Luna where their next destination was, she pulled the map from her rucksack and tossed it in his face, mumbling something about not getting too close because they might accidentally bump lips and then he would have to boil his mouth after that to get rid of the nasty Luna infection.

Later that morning Luna was struggling with the can opener and kept shooting George angry looks because he refused to help her like he usually did. George finally relented and opened the can with his back to her and when he handed it back he warned her that she might want to check it for boogers and loogies, after all, he couldn't be trusted not to put "additives" in canned food. George watched with an amused smirk as Luna ate the can of applesauce slower than he had ever seen her eat anything.

It was mid afternoon when George began watching the sky suspiciously, all thoughts of his argument with Luna out of his mind as a great number of blacker than black clouds began to gather just a little bit away from them and moving in fast. From the way it looked, it could very possibly be the worst storm they had seen yet.

"Luna" George said with a tone of worry in his voice as he began to secure the oars more tightly "Check the map and see how much farther we have to go to Etif Island would ya?"

"Piss off!" Luna began "Besides I might..."

"Save it for later! Look at the fucking sky!" George pointed up and Luna followed his finger and gasped then unfolded the map, her eyes widened in worry.

"George, we've got at least another two hours! And there is nothing between here and Etif Island!" Luna looked scared

"Nothing?" George looked at her "Not even a dot that might be a sandbar?"

As Luna shook her head the rain began. "Oh no." she gasped

George pulled in the oars and then pulled out his wand. "Make sure our rucksacks are secure okay? I'm going to try and speed things up, if worst comes to worst, we'll have to abandon the boat and fly or apparate."

George put his wand tip in the water _"AQUAMOTORUS"_

"I can't do either very well." Luna said nervously as the boat began to speed up

"At least there's no tree's out here to get yourself stuck in." George smirked and unfortunately Luna took his attempt at a joke as an insult.

"Oh well, excuse me Mr. Merlin's gift to Broom's ." Luna huffed back to the front of the boat and was sat roughly on her behind when the boat jerked forward as George's spell reached full speed.

He couldn't help laughing. She looked so cute on her bottom, spluttering in anger, sitting on the sopping wet bottom of the boat.

"You! You did that on purpose!" She pointed an accusing finger at him

"Luna, sit down and shut up before you fall overboard."

Luna put her hands down on the bottom of the boat to push herself up, planning to let him have it, but something stopped her.

"George! The boat...There's so much water in it now the water's up to just past my wrists!"

"Damn it" George cursed "I was afraid of this. With the rain it's filling up as fast and the rain is getting heavier, the wind is starting to pick up too."

Luna started to answer when a loud grinding/scraping noise came from just under her feet, followed by a huge wave of water.

"Oh no! George, the boat! We hit some kind of rock!"

George pulled in his wand and rushed to where Luna stood _"Repairo" _They both yelled, wands out, trying to fix the damage to the boat, but there was too much and the wind was starting to interfere with their spells. The water was now up to their knees.

"Damn it!" George cursed "Were gonna have to abandon the boat and fly to Etif Island." he yelled over the wind.

"I don't think I can!" Luna yelled to be heard over the wind "I've never flown in this kind of wind before!"

George brushed his fingers through his sopping wet hair. He had no choice, he was going to have to fly them both.

"You take the rucksacks!" he yelled "Put one on your back, hold onto the other as tight as you can. I won't be able to help you because I'll need both hands to hold onto you and the broom!"

Luna nodded as George unfastened his broom from the end of his rucksack and then helped Luna secure the one on her back. The other he secured in her arms and then got them both on his broom the best he could. He put his arms around Luna, feeling vastly uncomfortable after their argument the night before and all the sniping that day, and they took off.

They looked down just in time to see the last of their boat sink.

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Traveling by broom they moved much faster than they had by boat and it was no time at all before Luna spotted Etif Island. Etif Island was a tiny little place about the size of a quarter of a city block. It had a small beach that surrounded a small mound of grass, a few trees and a smallish cave not much bigger than the one on that had been on Rankloch Island.

Luna was grateful for shelter but as the afternoon wore on her mood became more and more sour. The wasted time that should have been spent getting to her father wore on her something fierce,but the major irritant for Luna was being stuck in the small cave with George, who she was still angry with.

Truth be told, she wasn't angry, but hurt. She had wanted him to kiss her and he rejected her. Usually he made her feel like someone special, but last night...he had made her feel like, plain old, ugly Loony Lovegood. And so, she kept taking pot shot after pot shot at him and sniping, sniping and more sniping until even she thought she was a raging...

George couldn't figure out what the bug was that had crawled up Luna's butt, but it was a pretty damn irritating one. She had been pleasant enough when they had first reached the cave after their escape from the sinking boat, but as the afternoon had worn on she had become surlier and surlier. Hell, if anyone had a right to surly it was him. She was the one who had made it clear that she didn't trust him the night before and then made that insulting offer to let him kiss her to prove it to him that she did.

What the hell was she thinking anyway? Why would someone kiss anyone for such a lame half-baked reason? Specially when it was their first real kiss? That wasn't a reason to kiss someone, it should be special, and be because you want to. She' had acted like she was doing him some big favor, some big act of charity...

"Do you want to try and dry some wood out and build a fire?" Luna asked

"Hmmm?" George was snapped out of his thoughts

"Oh never mind." Luna jumped to her feet, irritated "Not like I asked you to do anything complicated or disgusting like kissing me or anything like that."

Luna mumbled the last but it was clear enough that George caught it .

"What? What's that suppose to mean?" George watched her put her shoes on

"Never mind." she huffed as she stomped out into the rain.

George followed her, grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him "Why are you being so nasty to me?"

"You figure it out Mr. Brilliant." she walked away again and George followed her.

"I never once said the idea of kissing you was disgusting Luna, don't put words in my mouth."

"No, you just acted like it." Luna began picking up pieces of wood, swiping them up like she was just waiting for George to say the wrong thing so she could turn them into weapons and club him over the head with them.

"YOU acted like you were doing me some big favor!" George followed after her, not scared of the artillery in her arms in the least. "Kiss for the freak? Lets give the poor little one eared freak a kiss from the pretty girl."

"I never called you a freak! I never even thought it!" Luna yelled

"No, you just acted like it!" George yelled

Luna walked away from him "You're not turning this around on me George Weasley! No way! I wanted to kiss you because I have feeling's for you and I am afraid to tell you okay? I had a nightmare that I went to Azkaban and found YOU dead, and I'm afraid of what it means, and I was afraid to tell you about it okay? And you don't want to kiss me because I am just disgusting! Disgusting Loony Luna, ...Loony Lovegood!"

"Oh shut up with that crap! It's not true and you know it!" George yelled

"No!"

George stalked up to her and took her by the shoulders and spun her around.

"I said,shut up!"

He pulled her close and fisted his hands in her hair, pulled her face to his, and kissed her, thoroughly, powerfully, passionately, and unlike his chaste kiss after the dementor attack, this kiss was nothing like kissing his auntie Muriel.

Luna let the wood slide from her arms, barely conscious enough to be careful not to let it fall on their feet. She put her hands on George's shoulders and pushed against him, breaking the kiss.

"Wh...what do you think y..you're doing?" her normally silver eyes had gone deep blue.

George looked back into her eyes as if he could see deep into her soul "Kissing you."

Luna blinked as the heavy rain ran down her face. "Oh...okay then."

She pulled his head down to hers and joined their lips once again, her emotions a perfect match to his. The rain continued to pour down around them, going unnoticed even as George's legs grew weak and he sank to the wet grass, pulling Luna down with him.

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-Chapter 7 Preview-

George and Luna finally reach

the perimeter of Azkaban and find the perfect

island to use to observe the prison...but

they're about to have visitors...

are they friend, foe, or both?

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-Note: Preview subject to change due to writers inspiration or whim.

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	7. Deppart Island Part I

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter Seven

-Deppart Island

-Part I

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Luna knew that they were going to have to stop, but it was too new and too amazing ...and the feelings...the way George felt in her arms, the feel of his lips on hers and his hands touching her, her face, her back, and the feel of his fingers in her hair.

George felt it too... it was intoxicating.. the way all that moonlight hair cascaded down around them creating a cozy silken cocoon, the way she delicately nibbled on his ear and the way she wasn't afraid to touch and kiss the rough scars on the side of his face near where his other ear had once been.

George too knew perfectly well they were going to have to stop, even sooner than they'd had to the night before, and the night before that, and definitely sooner than the night before that. They were going to have to stop soon...before they ended up doing something he would never regret.

It was just that neither of them liked it very much.

George took a deep breath through his nose and counted to three, then with the strength of Samson he broke their kiss and pulled back...Luna of course went in for his neck, nibbling deliciously along his bare collar bone and making George inwardly moan and hate himself for having morals.

"Luna, we have to stop." but even as he said it his back arched up to meet her lips and his hands fisted into her tangled hair.

"No..."She gasped "No we don't" she took his lips again with a fierceness that George never would have dreamed she had inside her three days before...until the night that they had argued in the rain and he kissed her and then...everything between them had changed.

He had no idea when the storm had blown over, or when they had fallen asleep in the wet grass still tangled in each others arms. But when they had woken at dawn they were still there, sopping wet, blushing furiously and horribly shy with each other. Then Luna, her face as red as the sunrise, had turned to him and with a grin...or perhaps it was a smirk, she had said

"Shall we get the awkwardness over with?"

And then she had launched herself at him, knocking him onto his back and kissing him fiercely...a kiss that George returned eagerly.

Since then they hadn't been least bit shy with one another, but they might have been better off if they had been...this new closeness was becoming problematic quickly.

They had discussed that same morning while they used their wands to attempt to transfigure a tree into a new boat and oars. Both had been raised by parents with certain values and morals and there were some things that young witches and wizards just did NOT do...having sex before being married was one of those things...and both had admitted...it was one of the few things they agreed with their parents on.

Both had also agreed it was far too soon to talk about marriage too. Even though they had known each other their entire lives...or Luna's entire life, considering that George was three years older than her. So much had happened in such a short time, the war had only ended two and a half weeks ago...two and a half weeks since George had lost Fred, two and a half weeks since they had begun this mission of theirs.

They needed time to really get to know each other. Normal circumstances, with no war, and no mourning. Besides, Luna had another year of school to finish and she had no idea yet what had become of her father.

George rolled onto his side then lightly grasped Luna's arms and gently pushed her back

"Luna...oh damn" he moaned softly at the loss of her next to him "Really...we have to stop."

"But why?"Luna rolled onto her back and whimpered

"Well" George pushed himself up onto his elbow and brushed the hair away from her face "Once we rescue your father, I don't want his first act to be castrating me for deflowering his daughter."

Luna's eyes sparkled as she giggled "Daddy wouldn't castrate you!"

"Oh, well, if your sure." George made a playful lunge for Luna and nuzzled her neck.

"But he would hurt you rather badly." Luna giggled

"Now you tell me." George sat back up and rolled his eyes

Luna sighed and caressed his cheek "It is getting really, really hard though isn't it?"

George's eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open, but nothing came out.

Luna looked at him, confused for a second, then realization washed over her and she blushed profoundly then giggled loudly and slapped George on the arm "YOU PERVERT!! I MEANT TO STOP!"

"Really bad choice of words Luna." Laughing, George rolled his eyes and sat up to put on his boots "Considering the nature of the discussion."

"Where are you going?" She asked

"It's almost ten, time to go on watch."

Finally, they had reached the perimeter around Azkaban prison and now were roughly half a city block away. Deppart Island was a little larger than the Islands they had been using, with at least ten decent caves to hide in and a fairly dense wooded area. But it had an excellent rise from which they could watch the prison, and fortunately, in the two days they had been there and George's careful search, it had proven to be abandoned.

"Oh, okay" Luna began putting on her shoes

"Why don't you stay here and get some sleep? I can seal the cave, you'll be safe." George knelt down next to her

The cave they had taken up had been next to several huge rocks that no human could lift or dream of moving. They had found that they felt safer so close to the prison with it sealed, particularly once they learned that there were in fact dementors still guarding the prison.

"I want to come with you." Luna said

George noticed her hands trembling as she tied her shoes and he knew she was reliving Rankloch Island again. She had had nightmare's about it several times since they had seen the dementors patrolling Azkaban and had so far to allow him out of her sight. George had begun to train on his Patronus charm again and he had worked back up to where he could conjure the silver shield pretty quickly. He hoped he could convince Luna to wait to go into the prison until he actually conjured a full Patronus.

George kissed her softly and took her hand.

"Come on then."

But as they reached the opening of the cave he pushed her behind him.

"George! Wha..." He put his hand over her mouth and whispered into her ear as he dropped his hand.

"Someones walking around out there, their scrounging around, in the boat. Go back in the cave." Luna shook her head furiously and mouthed the words

"NO WAY!".

"Quit being stubborn!" George hissed into her ear

"You're one to talk!" Luna hissed back

George rolled his eyes "Freaking stubborn..."

"No more than you are!" she whispered back

"Just stay behind me and get out your wand."

Luna saluted and George rolled his eyes as she pulled out her wand, then pulled out his own and walked slowly and stealthy through the brush to the tree line that lead to the beach.

The intruder was tall, blond but nearly bald, and big chested. Horribly thin and ragged with the appearance of someone who once was quite well fed and once over filled their trousers before they fell onto hard times. His clothes were expensive, but like the body, had fallen on hard times and now hung on the thin frame. A torn and holey cloak swung about his legs swinging open now and then to show that his now too big pants were held up with a bit of rope.

George saw him readying to push the boat into the water and knew it had to be now so he readied his wand as he jumped through the brush, leaving Luna behind and catching the intruder off guard.

"Stop right there or I'll hex your arse off." George said as Luna caught up and stood directly behind him.

"Merlin's balls." The intruder's voice was thick with the frustration of one who had been having hard luck a long time.

"Now turn around, keep the grubby fingers where I can see them."

"Fine, fine, whatever you say, but could you spare me the muggle cops and robbers cliche's?" the intruders voice was thick with sarcasm...and familiarity as he turned around.

"_Lumos"_ George lighted the end of his wand, and then nearly dropped it at the sight in front of him.

"Mr. Bagman?" George blinked as if trying to clear an apparation "Ludo Bagman?"

"Never heard of him."

But now that George had seen him, it was obviously one and the same.

Then the man recognized George. The man started and then a small sarcastic smile flashed across his face "I know you...your one of the Weasley boys...You and your brother not come to collect your Galleons I hope? I'm afraid I'm a bit short at the moment. Look me up on payday. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the opera..."

"My brothers dead." George said bitterly

Bagmans face softened a bit "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Don't get much news out here in the Hell Zone. He was a good boy your brother."

George looked at him blankly "The Hell Zone?"

Bagman laughed loudly, revealing that he was now missing several teeth "Well what else they gonna call it? This! You-are-here! The ten Islands that surround the Perimeter of Azkaban...the Hell Zone."

Bagman moved closer to George and Luna "And if that ain't your brother, then who ya got with you?"

"She's my... " George stumbled, unsure what exactly Luna was to him now but he panicked as Bagman got close to Luna and he stepped in front of her protectively and spoke without thinking "She's mine... my thing."

George's possessiveness surprised himself almost as much as they surprised Luna.

"Yes" Luna said with a lilt to her voice that George recognized, to his great relief, as amusement "I'm his ...thing."

"_I'm the thing that does the thing's that make HIS thing go ring a ding ding._" she whispered behind him so only George could hear and he nearly gagged on his tongue.

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To George's disgust, after Bagman said he hadn't eaten in two days, Luna had insisted on feeding him. While she cooked (on the beach, George wouldn't allow him near their cave) George secured the boat with a spell so the wandless Bagman wouldn't be able to steal it.

"Well, it's getting late and we have a lot to do in the morning." George said not so subtly.

"Yes, Yes, I understand" Bagman said with a toothless smile as he stood "But you've been very kind, it's much appreciated young Lady."

"It was nothing, just a little food." Luna smiled shyly as Bagman moved to take her hand and bend low over it.

"Get away from her Bagman." George growled with mistrust but Bagman just laughed as he kissed Luna's hand.

"Such a silly young man. He must truly be in love with you Miss Luna."

In one fluid motion he straightened, pulled Luna's wand from her sleeve, grabbed a handful of her hair and put her wand to her neck and said

"That'll make this much easier!"

"Let her go Bagman!" George pointed his wand at Bagmans heart, just over Luna's head. At the moment, it would be so easy...he said the words over and over in his head...

'..._Avada Kedavera, Avada Kedavera, Avada Kedavera_...'

"You don't want to do that Weasley. Her pretty little head is awfully close to where you are pointing that wand, don't you think?" He jerked Luna's head so it was directly in line with where George was pointing his wand. "It would be horribly tragic, to lose your brother and the woman you love, and imagine... being the one who killed her..."

George looked at Luna's tear streaked face, she kept mouthing the words "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." over and over again.

George lowered his wand

"_Expelliarmus."_ Bagman said before George has a chance to brace himself and George's wand shot from his hand and into Bagman's

"You've got my wand...now let her go." George ground out, his face a raging storm of hatred. He could have killed Bagman with his bare hands at the moment.

"Not quite yet..."He ordered "Into the forest...go, to that cave you two lovebirds have been fooling around in."

George turned around and walked towards the forest

"You knew it was me." George spat

"Of course, I've been following you since you came ashore here two days ago." Bagman grinned "I had to find out if you were after me or if you were working for my old Goblin friends..." Bagman pushed them into the cave

"Why didn't you just take the boat and go?" Luna asked with a squeak as he jerked her hair again

"I don't want your boat, though I will have to take it out of the Hell Zone, can't have the dementors picking me off can I?" He picked up the two brooms "Why bother with a boat, when you can fly? Even if it's on a piece of trash like a cleansweep5. And I needed a wand...now, I have two. Thanks sweetheart." Bagman kissed Luna's cheek "Couldn't have done it without your sweet naiveté."

"You prick." George pulled Luna away from Bagman and put his arms around her protectively "Don't touch her again."

"If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with your mate Harry Potter. If he hadn't told Cedric Diggory to take the cup with him...we wouldn't be here. What kind of fucking idiot shares the limelight...specially for something as grand as the Triwizard Tournament?"

"A good, kind person" Luna said "People like Cedric and Fred. People like Harry and George. You can't understand them so you mock them...all because you are selfish and greedy. You will never be as good as them, not even in your most ambitious fantasies or the most expensive charm induced dreams."

George hugged Luna and smirked at Bagman over Luna's head.

"_SectumSempra!" _George was knocked backwards away from Luna and he lay on the ground unconscious and bleeding. He had been slashed across the face and back, not badly, but enough to bleed. Luna tried to go to him but was stopped by Bagman who caught her by the hair.

Bagman sneered at her "Thank you for the self righteous little speech.. Quite the little bitch aren't you?"

"Go to hell." Luna spit in his face and the last thing Luna saw was his fist right before everything went black.

Ludo Bagman used George's wand to move the heavy rocks into place to seal the cave to insure that George Weasley and Luna Lovegood would have no escape. He reckoned he was being nice enough, they had plenty of air and he was leaving them plenty of firewood,and their rucksacks with their blankets and food, they wouldn't die...

...at least not right away.

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Chapter 8 Preview:

George and Luna wake to find

themselves trapped in the cave with no means

of escape. Both feel guilty, comforting leads to the bond between them deepening even more...but with the fear of death

hanging over them, will they continue to resist the temptation of going further...or will they give in and

do the one thing that will bond them together in their hearts forever...

Deppart Island Part Two

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	8. Deppart Island Part II

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-Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe is the property of JK Rowling

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter 8

-Deppart Island

-Part II

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Luna's first sensation upon waking was that of a horrible throbbing around her right eye and even before she remembered what exactly had happened, she felt intense fear creep up her spine. When she had been face to face with Voldemorts death eaters in the Ministry of Magic, or when she had been forced off the Hogwarts Express at Christmas, even then she hadn't experienced fear like this.

Luna's memory began to click into place and she remembered...an intruder rummaging around in their boat...George telling her to stay behind, her refusing. She could still hear the slight gasp as George recognized the man in front of them...someone he had once known, and didn't trust. But she...always so foolish, always so trusting...

The next sequence of memories came to her in quick flashes, her own wand at her throat, George being disarmed, the cave, and George...and...blood!

Luna forced herself upright with a gasp at the memory of George flying backwards, blood oozing from his face and back. She regretted her swift motion instantly as dizziness overcame her and she buried her face in her hands, determined to gain some sort of equilibrium.

When she felt steady again she lowered her hands only to find it was pointless...she was surrounded by blackness. Out of habit she reached into her sleeve for her wand, then she remembered, her wand was likely far, far away by now...with him, with Bagman, and it was all her fault. Stupid Luna. Stupid, Stupid Loony Lovegood!

But there was no time for that now, she would have plenty of time to kick herself later. Right now she had to find George, to find out if he was...no, he was, of course he was...he had to be. Luna refused to allow room in her mind for the possibility that Bagmans sectumsempra might have killed George...

Luna pushed herself onto her hands and knees, moving forward she nearly instantly collided with the wall. Following the wall she came to the spot where their rucksacks lay and she breathed a deep sigh of relief, so they hadn't been left totally without anything. That would be some help. She felt both sacks, locating hers by the charms she had tied to the outer zipper she dug down deep, locating the box her father had kept on hand for non magical emergencies.

Flipping the box open she found the silly instrument that her father had called a flashlight, he had never shown her how to turn it on, but after a couple seconds of pushing and prodding a strong and steady light shot out of the end of it so suddenly that Luna dropped it in her surprise.

_"If I didn't say it enough before, I am so sorry Daddy"_ Luna sighed in gratitude as she reached for the flashlight _"But I do! I absolutely LOVE you!"_

Holding the flashlight firmly she shined it around the cave and began to take in her predicament. The first thing she found was that the cave had, as she had suspected, been sealed with them inside. But she was surprised to find an ample supply of firewood and fresh water had been left for them. Luna looked to the ceiling of the cave and sure enough there were cracks running along the top that were large enough to give them proper ventilation for a fire, but too small to allow for escape.

Luna lowered the flashlight again and it came to rest on a pair of very still black booted feet.

"George..." Luna gasped out his name, her stubborn feet refused to move toward him, her hand afraid to move the light to his upper body.

_"Damn it Luna!"_ she cursed at herself _"Stop being a foolish git and move!"_

Still, she moved slowly, forcing the hand that held the beam of light to move up his body. When it reached the back of his head she nearly screamed...there was so much blood! It was the jolt that she needed however to galvanize her into action. She returned to her rucksack and dug again for her last clean shirt, then she picked up her fathers box and went to kneel by George's side.

He was still unconscious, his cheek laying in a pool of blood. Oddly, Luna found herself relieved. Most of the blood seemed to have come from the gash to his cheek, facial wounds might seem nasty, but they couldn't do much damage. They did, however, bleed like crazy, which explained the amount of blood.

Luna pulled a scissors and a bottle of antiseptic from the box, cut a sleeve from her clean t-shirt and drenched it in the antiseptic, then used it to wash the wound to George's face and neck. Digging deeper in the box, she found some large bandages and tape and used them to dress the wound.

Then, she used the scissors to cut off his blood soaked shirt, relieved to find that the wound on his back was only a few inches long, and barely more than a skin graze. She cleaned the wound, dressed it, and with soap and water she washed George as clean as she could and moved him from the bloody ground onto his stomach on his sleeping bag and covered him with hers.

She sat up against the wall, exhausted from the exertion of moving him around, even though it was only a short distance. It was only a short time later that his eyes began to flutter open. Luna quickly scooted closer to him.

"George?"

"Luna?" His voice was confused and groggy.

"I'm here..." she bent down and kissed the unhurt side of his face "...Do you remember what happened?"

"Bagman..." He said the name like he was spitting venom

"Yeah..." Luna nodded

"He hurt you." George reached up a hand and brushed the hair from her face, his eyes hardened with hatred when he realized that Luna had been hit.

"Not bad." Luna tried to smile "I'm okay."

George gently brushed his thumb over her bruised cheek "I'm gonna make him pay for hurting you."

Luna smiled "Are you my avenger now?"

"I'm just your's." He smiled softly "Kiss me."

Luna kissed his forehead.

"I liked how you were kissing me before much better." George said with a trace of his old smirk.

"You weren't hurt before."

"Got me there. Can I lay in your lap...?" With a wince and a couple of wiggles Luna had George's head in her lap.

Luna smiled as she smoothed the hair from his face. "Is that better?"

"Much." George grinned a bit as he looked up at her, his eyes asking for something more.

"What?"

"Sing for me, like before." His eyes pleaded with hers.

"Oh George...you don't..." Luna blushed

"Yes I do" He looked at her earnestly "And you promised."

"But my singing is so...so..."

"Beautiful."

"Horrible! Like a gaggle of a hundred..."

"Angels."

"Dying geese."

"Please?" George locked his eyes on hers and there was more in them than just his asking for a song, he was asking for comfort, and this was something that he trusted to give him the rest that he needed.

"Close your eyes then, no watching, or you'll make me start giggling." Luna smiled and kissed him softly "Keep them closed now..."

Luna's voice washed over Georges hazy mind, pushing all other thoughts out of his head. Somewhere down deep he knew that they were in trouble, but between her voice and her gentle fingers brushing through his hair, he couldn't summon the mental energy necessary to fully comprehend anything but the words of the song.

Just like before, the words made perfect sense to him. But now behind his closed eyes dreams came instantly...

_He was cold, dirty,in pain and so alone...and then she came to him, like a goddess from the sky...Luna dressed in a filmy gown the color of moonlight, a silver diamond tiara sparkled brilliantly atop her white blonde hair. She was angelic, ethereal, and as she always was, at least in his eyes, incredibly beautiful._

_She reached out her hands and he grasped them, and the moment that her fingers touched his, his pain was gone and he was warm. Slowly he rose to his feet, unwilling to touch her because he was so dirty. Luna unclenched her hand and revealed a silver diamond encrusted ring, and she put it on the third finger of his left hand and he was magically transformed. His wounds were gone, his body clean and he was clothed in a manner that matched hers in color and style, a matching silver and diamond crown now rested upon his blazing red hair._

_George looked up at her in surprise and she smiled, at the same time he realized that he now held something in his own hand and he opened it to find a smaller but matching silver and diamond ring. He knew without asking that the ring was meant for her finger, just as her ring had been meant for his._

_He slid the ring on the third finger of her left hand and then summoning his bravery he kissed her softly. When he pulled back the island and cave vanished and they seemed to be enshrouded in clouds._

_"Where are we going?" he asked softly as he tightened his arms around her, or he just realized that they were now flying, high above the sea on a Pegasus._

_"I'm taking you away." She smiled "Far from the angry sea."_

_"But to where?"_

_"To the Land of Princes and Princesses."_

_George looked down at their hands_

_"And magic rings?" he murmured_

_"And other nice things." she giggled  
_

_George grinned "And were going to live ..."_

_"In an iced sugar castle of course" Luna rolled her eyes at him "Really George, you should listen when you make me sing to you, it would be the polite thing to do."_

_"Right. Sorry..." he grinned "So you came for me...because...?"_

_"Because your my prince, I chose you."_

_"Why?"_

_"Silly, all those times you've snogged me and you don't know?" Luna grinned mischievously "You're the one George ...the one I want to spend my life with."_

_GL_

By the time Luna finished George had drifted back to sleep. She knew she should have told him everything, that they were trapped in the cave, that both of their wands were gone, that they had no way out of the mess that she had gotten them into. But she just couldn't do it.

"_Just let him have one night of decent rest, so he can regain some of his strength."_

She thought to herself as she carefully lay his head onto the blanket they used as a makeshift pillow, and then she lay down next to him and snuggled as close as she dared to. Sensing her close even in his sleep, George mumbled in his sleep and put an arm around her and snuggled his face into her hair.

"_There has to be some way out of this"_ Luna thought as she snuggled into his chest_ "There just has to be."_

If George died, it would be all her fault. This was all her doing...his being here instead of safe with his family, his being hurt and trapped in this cave.

"I'm so sorry George" she wept silently as she whispered against his bare shoulder in the once again dark cave

"I'm so sorry"

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_GL_

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A thin beam of bright sunlight shone through a crack in the ceiling of the cave, hitting George in the eyes with persistence, refusing to allow him another moments peace. Slowly, painfully, he untangled himself from from still sleeping Luna and sat up, for the first time getting a full picture of their predicament as he looked around the cave.

The cracks in the cave ceiling gave the cave plenty of light and George sighed deeply when his eyes fell on the now hopelessly sealed cave entrance, and next to that the water and firewood that Bagman had been "kind" enough to leave them.

Luna shifted onto her back, her hair falling free of most of her face as she did so. George winced as he glanced down at her and shifted around, brushing the remainder of hair of her face and neck. Her right eye was enormous, black and likely swollen completely shut and she had large finger shaped bruises and scratches around her pale slim neck and collar bone. He felt along the back of her head and there were several knots as well, and it was likely tender from being jerked around by the hair.

George felt sick, knowing that if he had his wand he could patch her up in no time, but without it, he was worthless. There was one thing he could do for her though. He scooted to the end of the sleeping bag and dug deep into his rucksack, finally coming up with a small palm sized pot. Inside was the miracle bruise removing balm that he had Fred and perfected when they were first starting out. They had never tried it on non-magical bruises, but with any luck...

George carefully lifted her and pulled her into his lap, then,resting her head in the crook of his arm he unscrewed the the lid on the balm and began to apply it around her eye with gentle fingers. It was only a moment before the motions woke her and George smiled down at her before she could say a word.

"You lied to me." he softly accused

"What?" she tried to sit up but he held her firm

"Last night, you lied, you said you weren't badly hurt." he raised an eyebrow at her in admonishment.

"Oh...well, comparatively speaking..." she began and George silenced her with a finger on her lips.

"This isn't a debate Miss Ravenclaw." He rolled his eyes at her and began to dab balm on the bruises on her neck "And it wasn't a comparative question."

Luna smiled "So—rr—yy...Mr. Gryffindor."

"I'm some Gryffindor." George snorted in disgust "Out cold on the ground, leaving you to...and he..." George closed his eyes and grit his teeth "I'm sorry, I failed you."

"What?" Luna sat up and onto her knees across from him"You didn't..."

"Yes, I did. I was suppose to protect you...but you got hurt, and it's my fault." he screwed the lid on the balm and tossed it in the open top of his rucksack. "Now were stuck in here and I can't think of a single way out."

"And that's my fault! Not yours!" Luna lifted his chin to force him to look her in the eye "I'm the one who insisted on feeding that...that...bloody shit sucking oaf! I'm the one who just stood there like a git while he disarmed me! And me heavy in the DA, one of the lot who broke into the ministry! I should KNOW better! Harry always told us..."

"Constant vigilance." George gave Luna the ghost of a smile "That's what Mad-eye Moody always told us. But I should have known it too, and even worse, I know what a ...ahem, '_bloody shit sucking oaf_', Bagman is. I should have stupefied him and sent him off of here tied to a log the minute I saw him."

"I wouldn't let you." Luna said softly "You wanted to...but I wouldn't let you. Oh George...I'm so sorry." She sagged against him and he put his arms tightly around her.

"It's not your fault." he whispered against her ear.

"Yes it is...all of this..." she tightened her arms around him "You told me not to come here, you told me to talk to Harry, or wait for the ministry, but I didn't listen."

"I'm glad I came." George pulled back enough so that he could look into her eyes. He brushed away a light spattering of tears from her eyelashes "Even if I could go back to the beginning knowing this was going to happen, I would still come with you."

"How can you say that?" Luna's eyes were silvery pools "We have no way out, we might even die here!"

"Do you really not know?" he whispered, moving in so he could brush his lips over hers. "All those times I've kissed you, and you don't know?" He kissed her, his hands buried deep in her hair as their lips moved over one another's. Both needing comfort, both giving comfort. George lowered her onto her back so he could hold her fully against him, every part of his body seeking warmth from hers.

After what felt like an eternity he felt her hands pushing gently on his shoulders. He pulled back and stared down into her silver blue eyes.

"But why?" Her eyes swam with tears "I don't understand George. Why would you come, even knowing we might die here?"

"You're the one Luna" he brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek "...the one I want to spend my life with, no matter how long or short that life is."

George reached inside his pocket and pulled something out and put it into her hand.

"I took this from the cave on Lewej cove, I thought to give it to you in the spring." George smiled as the pool of tears broke free from Luna's eyes and poured down her cheeks and into her hair.

"It didn't turn into sand..." she whispered

In her hand she held a stunning uncut diamond.

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-Chapter 9 Preview-

George and Luna try to find some

way out of the cave and continue to grow closer as they

make plans for the future...but will they have a

future or will it all end on Deppart Island?

Never fear...remember...CJ can't stand unhappy endings!

But what form will it take?

Will Luna and George come up with a miracle idea or will

help come in another visitor? Will it be friend or foe?

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And what of Luna's father? Has

all that George and Luna have gone through

to rescue him been for nothing?

Will they be too late? Or will they find him

playing Gobstones with his cell mate

Cornelius Fudge?

(just kidding! lol)

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	9. Deppart Island Part III

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling. Not Me, Myself, I, any of my multiple personalities, or the voices that I hear in my head that often tell me to wear fuchsia leggings with a bright orange t-shirt and neon green glittery cowboy boots with heaps of gold and silver eyeshadow and blue lipstick.

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-WARNING: LEMONY LIME TIME!

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Dim light beckoned Luna Lovegood down the dark corridor of Azkaban prison and even though her mind only too well knew what she was going to find, she moved towards it. Her heart and mind screamed at her to turn, to run away from the dim light that she knew shimmered around the blood soaked sheet, but she had learned long before... she had no say in the matter. She was a prisoner in her own body.

Her hand involuntarily pushed the cell door open and she knelt on the cold, hard, bloody stone floor. Fresh tears filled her eyes as she reached for the sheet, not for the first time, or was it likely the last time, and pulled it off the face of the man who lay dead on the floor. His light brown eyes were fixed and staring as if into hers, even though he was probably hours past dead, bright red hair was soaked dark red in his blood...

Luna opened her mouth and just before she collapsed with her cheek on his chest ...

...she screamed her anguish out into the inky black night.

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter Nine

-Deppart Island

-Part III

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"Luna" George gently pulled her into his arms and closed them tightly around her to held her and gently stroke her hair. "It's okay...it was only the nightmare again."

Slowly she nodded and relaxed against him, but he could feel her tears as they ran off her cheeks onto his bare chest as she wept.

George had anticipated the scream long before it actually came. He'd known the moment he was woken by her wild tossing that Luna had begun the nightmare again, the one where she found him dead and bloody in a cell of Azkaban. The nightmare she'd had nearly every time she had tried to sleep since they had been trapped in the cave, nearly a week now going by his markings on the wall.

Luna's worst fear, he knew, was his death. He couldn't help but understand, his worst fear was losing her.

"I'm sorry George." She said as she tried to get her emotions under control "I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for." he said softly as he kissed her hair

"Yes there is" she sniffled "This is my fault. All of this."

George put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back from him a little, then he cupped her face in his hands and lifted it so their eyes met.

"I thought we agreed" she tried to look away but he refused to allow her eyes to wander "The person to blame for this is Bagman."

"But you tried to tell me..." He cut her words off with his lips on hers, soft and sweet...his tongue gently teasing her bottom lip with the tiniest licks before he pulled back again.

But Luna was stubborn and not in the mood to be easily dissuaded after her nightmares and she opened her mouth to continue.

"...it was too dangerous, I didn't li..."

His lips returned to hers, his tongue once again ventured out to meet its female counterpart momentarily before George gave Luna the chance to speak once more.

"...listen and now I've gone and gotten us both..."

George took her lips for the third time before giving her a final chance to see reason.

But if Luna Lovegood was anything, she was stubborn.

"...trapped here, and now were going to..."

"Would you just give it up already!" George growled in exasperation at her stubborness before kissing her so hard that their teeth nearly knocked together. He lowered to her back , eased down onto his elbows above her and cradled her in his arms.

"How damn many times" he said breathlessly between kisses "Do I have to tell you?" taking each one deeper

"I want to be here." His breathing becoming shallower and harder as his body reacted to her. "I don't care if I die tomorrow..."

One hand wound in her hair while while the other journeyed over her body, touching her face, his thumb brushed down her neck before he gently cupped her breast... waist.. and hip.

"...though I'd really rather not." He said as he forced himself away from her lips to let his face rest in her neck.

"George..." Luna sighed underneath him "Don't stop...please."

"I don't want to." he sighed, his breath hot and teasing against her neck "But If I don't stop now..."

She reached her hand to his face to urge him to look at her. "That's what I mean." she whispered "I don't want you to stop."

George opened his eyes wide "Luna...you don't mean that."

"But I do." she said softly, her hands playing with the ends of his hair.

"But why now?" George pulled back to sit on his knees and pulled Luna up with him to sit in front of him. "Is it just because of the nightmares?"

"No..." Luna scooted up onto her own knees "Is it because you don't want me."

She said it as if it were a statement of truth rather than a question.

"Merlin's arse Luna, don't be stupid!" He pulled her hand up to her face. He had taken the uncut diamond from Lewej cove and wound a metal tie around it, then threaded a piece of string through the tie and tied it onto her third finger.

"But then why..."

"Remember?" He moved closer and stroked her cheek "Everything we talked about, after the storm on Etif Island? We made plans Luna, I don't understand. Why do you want to change them now?"

Luna sighed and stood on her feet and walked away from him.

"The plans we made on Etif Island were wonderful plans George. But, we made them when we thought we were going to have a future. It's been a week, and we still can't think of anyway out of this." she turned around and wiped a sprinkling of tears off her lashes.

"I don't want to wait anymore because ...because I want to give myself body and soul to the man I love before it's too late."

George was silent. He didn't know what to say to something so beautiful and selfless. But his words weren't necessary. Luna was silent as she slowly stepped toward him, unbuttoning her light summer nightgown as she drew closer.

George rose to his feet to meet her and they stood toe to toe under the dim moonlight that came through the cracks in the cave ceiling.

"George...All I have to give you is me..." she whispered as she let the nightgown fall to pool around her feet "I want to be yours, if it is what you want."

In all of his imaginings of how Luna would look, he hadn't even come close to her true beauty. Luna went beyond the flesh, and when he looked at her he saw the entire woman, body, soul, and heart.

George tried to swallow past the boulder sized lump in his throat, but he realized that words were beyond his ability. He reached down for her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed the soft pale fingers and palm before pulling her into his arms and he nearly gasped as their bodies touched.

Tilting her head so their eyes met, he brushed his lips over hers, once, twice, three times, then kissed away the tears that remained on her cheeks and eyelashes before slowly lowering her the sleeping bag to hold her against him and kiss her neck and shoulders.

"George..." She sighed against him, adjusting her head up and away to give him better access.

George found that he was finally able to use his voice as he looked down into the silvery eyes.

"I want you Luna." he kissed her lips long and deep while his fingers explored a hardened nipple. "I've wanted you for a very long time."

George shifted lower and his mouth replaced his fingers on her breast. Luna gasped sharply as her body reacted to his tongue on her nipple. She had never experienced anything like this and she wanted more! She encouraged his hand to move lower, to where the need seemed to be centered and he obliged. His fingers brushed over her gently, careful not to hurt her as they moved in a circular motion between her legs.

George pulled away from her breast and watched her face while he continued to stroke her with his fingers. She was so beautiful this woman of his...so incredibly beautiful. He lowered his head to her neck and licked her ear.

"George..." her hand reached down to stop his movement, then she cupped his face in her hands. "Make love to me..."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked softly

"Do you want me George?" Luna looked as if she was still afraid of his answer

"Oh god yes" he whispered against her skin

"I want to be yours" she kissed his shoulder "Even if it's only for just one night and we die tomorrow."

"I love you Luna."

She opened her eyes when she felt something wet fall onto her neck...

It was a tear drop.

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"Luna?" George asked later as they lay wrapped up in each others arms

"Hmmm?" she twined her fingers with his.

"Tell me honestly okay? Any regrets?" His voice sounded nervous

"Well" she said "I do have one I'm afraid."

"That's what I was afraid of." George grunted indignantly and propped himself up on his elbow. "And just what is it if I may ask?"

Luna giggled a little "That we didn't do it sooner. This whole last awful week could have been much nicer."

Georges mouth fell open for a second and then he let his head fall on Luna's chest. "You have a filthy mind Luna Lovegood."

Luna giggled "I know, isn't it wonderful?"

"Hmmm, wonderful." George, who had just uncovered a breast to explore closer, agreed absently.

"And you say I have a filthy mind." Luna lifted an eyebrow at George who was rubbing the half peaked nipple against his cheek.

"Can't help it, you're addictive." he swirled his tongue around the hardened nipple. "I think your an undercover Veela or something."

"Me a Veela!" Luna scoffed and pulled the blankets up "Loony Lovegood, the secret Veela." she giggled

"Don't call yourself that." George kissed her hard on the lips

"Everyone else does" she shrugged

"Yeah, but, your mine now, you have to do what I say Miss Veela" George smiled and kissed her again, and again, and again. Then he scooted down and retrieved her nightgown and brought it back to her.

" I am yours." Luna sighed and kissed him. "But I am so not a Veela." she giggled as she re-buttoned her nightgown

"How can you be so sure? You do have all that moonlight Veela hair..."

"Simple, my hair is yellow blonde during the day, it only looks like this in really bright moonlight. Now a true Veela, like Fleur, her hair is..." Luna broke off, grabbed her rucksack and dumped everything out of it.

"What's wrong?" George looked at her, afraid that she had just remembered something that would be more bad news. Maybe she had realized she did regret letting him...

"Oh God!" Luna hugged her hairbrush to her chest "Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

"You want to brush your hair?" George looked at her, his face a mask of confusion.

"No! George...this Brush...it's not mine, it's Fleur's! The morning we left I couldn't find my brush, so Fleur gave me her extra one. But I don't like using other people's brushes, so I bought one in Hogsmeade when stopped for supplies! This brush is loaded with Veela hair! Oh why didn't I think of this sooner?!"

George was looking at her like he was still missing a few pieces of the puzzle.

"George, the magical elements used for wands are..."

"Phoenix feather, Unicorn hair, Dragon Heartstring..."

"And Veela hair! We can use the hair in this brush to make a wand!"

"You don't know how to make a wand though..."

"Don't I?" Luna grinned and began to riffle through small chunks of wood. "I was locked up with Mr. Olivander for months George! Months! What do you think we talked about for heavens sakes? Quidditch stats and lace patterns?"

"Well, knowing you..." George grinned

Luna tossed a piece of wood at him and he caught it deftly.

"George..." She grinned and plopped down on his lap, kissing him hard on the lips. "If I'm your's, your mine. You have to do as I say."

George lifted an eyebrow at her "Really, have anything good in mind?" he wiggled his eyebrows

"Yeah" she kissed him then gave him a saucy wink "Whittle that down to wand size."

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It took most of the day for George to complete the wand, but just as the sun began to sink below the horizon it was ready for the insertion of the Veela hair that Luna had meticulously picked and straighted from the brush.

Carefully she inserted the hair into the small core space that George had dug into the center, then using shavings she plugged the hole and packed it tight. Her eyes lit up when gold stars sparkled from the end of the wand.

"Oh gosh!" she said "I'm too nervous! You do it George."

She handed him the wand and he stepped to the boulder.

"_Wingardium Leviosa" _he_ gave _the wand a careful swish and flick and nothing happened...for a second...then the huge boulder began to vibrate and then shake. Then it lifted up and George directed it away from the cave opening as fresh sweet evening air whooshed past it and into their faces.

"Oh George! Oh! You did it!" Luna dragged him out of the cave and then jumped into his arms hugging him tightly

"No..." George pushed her back so he could look into her happy "I didn't do anything. You did it, all of it."

"Well..." she smiled "Maybe WE did it."

Her words triggered the realization that they were going to live. But to George there was another thought as well.

"Yes, we certainly did." he said nervously "And now your father is going to kill me for it."

"Huh? Oh...ohhh." Luna grinned "Well, I won't tell him if you don't. Come on, I want a swim, badly!"

Luna ran through the trees and onto the beach, George laughing right behind her. They were brought up short as they realized immediately that something was wrong...

Their boat was still tied to the post that George had driven into the beach over a week before.

Ludo Bagman's booted feet hung limply over the side.

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Chapter 10 Preview

George and Luna

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but does a different

kind of death lie in

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	10. Leaving Deppart Island

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-Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling

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-Sorry!! I know its taken me forever to update, but I moved to my new apartment...moving SUCKS! Specially since I had to give away my cats who I love very much, but they are living on a farm now instead of a tiny apartment, so they are probably having the time of their lives...specially since one of them can get xXxXxXCENSOREDXxXxXx now with all the xXxXxXCENSOREDXxXxXx on the farm. Hehehe wouldn't you just like to know what I censored out!! LOL I'll just say it was a Lemon. LOL

ANYHOO... So yeah, I'm updating now...no promises when I will again since I am trying to do NaNoWriMo this year. But I had this almost done and I haven't been too productive on Nano so far, so I figured I would finish this chapter. Only two or so more to go on this story! One more to go on Beautiful Consequences,then I am going on with Luna's Secret and starting on The sequel to Beautiful Consequences in December! So, thats whats to come! might come sooner if I continue to bomb out with Nano.

Hugs...CJ

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter 10

-Leaving Deppart Island

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"Luna" George put a warning arm up to stop Luna from going closer to the boat "Go back to the cave"

"But..." Luna started to protest but one look at George's face stopped her. She nodded and turned around, slipping quietly back into the tree line that led back to the cave that had held them prisoner for over a week.

George proceeded cautiously, the Veela wand held extremely tight in his hand in case Bagman had any thoughts of attempting to disarm him again. But as he stood by the side of the boat it became more than apparent that Ludo Bagman wouldn't be disarming anybody ever again.

He lay on his back, his eyes open and staring at the cloudless sky with his arms stretched limply over his head, George's wand still lay clenched in one fist, Luna's in the other. His emaciated chest moved up and down, his breathing weak and gasping, more of a death rail than anything. Bugs crawled unhindered over Bagman, already enjoying a tasty feast. George reached down and snatched the wands from his fists, then gave him a weak kick, receiving no response whatsoever. Bagman's body wasn't dead yet...but it would be very soon, his soul, so it appeared, had been claimed the week before by the dementors kiss.

George didn't want Luna seeing this. Winning a skirmish with his conscience he picked up his and Ron's Brooms, untied the boat and used _Wingardium Leviosa_ to set it adrift far from the Island, then cast _Reducto_ on it, sinking it. When it was gone from view he turned back to the tree line and found Luna watching solemnly from the trees.

"He's dead?" she asked, her voice softer than he had ever heard it.

George nodded as he took her hands. "He is now."

She nodded and put her arms around him, laying her cheek on his chest. "It was the dementors wasn't it?"

George nodded and tightened his arms around her.

"You did the right thing" she said "It's good that he's not suffering anymore."

"Yeah." George pulled her even tighter and buried his nose in her hair. "I suppose so."

Her next words surprised him.

"I want to go home."

He pulled back and looked up at her sharply.

"What?"

"I said I want to go home. But..." Luna smiled. "I just remembered, I haven't got a home. It blew up."

"You have a home wherever I am Luna." He tightened his arms around her again "But what about your father?"

"I don't know." George felt tears dampen the front of his shirt and realized she was crying. "I just know that we came really close to dying." she shook her head. "It isn't fair for me to keep you here and risk your life, not when your family already lost Fred."

"I promised you..." George began but Luna became angry and pushed him away to turn and stomp back to the cave.

"No George! You have to go back!"

"Me?" He raised an eyebrow in question

"I mean we...us. It's too dangerous, we have to contact the ministry, like you said before."

She had reached the cave and now began to shove their things haphazardly into their rucksacks.

George followed her, confused by her complete change of plans and attitude. "But before you said..."

"Forget what I said before." She tied his bag shut and began to work on her own, struggling with her over-sized sleeping bag.

George bent down to help her. "But what about your father? Who will..."

"Damn it George! By now my father is probably..." Luna sat back hard as a flood of tears broke from her eyes. She looked at George, her eyes pleading with him to understand. "If we go on, I'm afraid you'll be next, like in my dream."

George leaned forward and pulled her against his chest, wrapped her tight in his arms and kissed her hair. "I can't lose you! I can't lose you too George, you're the only one I have left!"

"I'm not going anywhere." he said softly

"Promise me." she demanded in a shaky whisper

George lifted her face to his and looked through her eyes and into her soul. "I promise."

"Take me away from here." she pleaded "I don't want to be in this horrible place anymore."

"Where do you want to be?" he asked while his hand brushed over her hair.

"Someplace with clean clothes, a bathtub, and bubble bath, and steak with mushrooms and caramelized onions and baked potatoes." she sniffled and tightened her arms "and you."

"Daigon Alley it is." he smiled, picked up her rucksack and put it on her back, then slid his own on and tucked her back in his arms and pulled out his wand, then twisted away, leaving Deppart Island and the angry sea behind.

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"You do realize of course that Mum is just waiting to skin you alive?"

Unfortunately, George and Luna apparated nearly right on top of Ginny and Harry who were taking a turn minding the shop.

"Perhaps, but she can only do that when she knows that I am here, correct?" George fixed her with a look of severe warning.

"You're not seriously asking me to keep quiet about your being back..." Ginny's face flushed with indignation "And by the way...you reek."

"I love you too." George rolled his eyes and smiled at Luna and took her hand "Come on, I'll show you where everything is." he took her hand and led her upstairs for a bath to the raised eyebrows of Harry and Ginny. When he returned a few moments later they were both grinning with lifted eyebrows.

"What?"

"What's with you and _Luna_?" Harry asked, putting special emphasis on Luna's name.

"Wouldn't you like to know." he said dismissively as he scribbled a note on a piece of paper and addressed it to the Leaky Cauldron, then went to his safe and pulled out a small sack. He pulled out a galleon and put it in a smaller sack and then tied it all on his owls leg and opened the window and let him go to deliver the food order.

"Ginny would you do me a huge favor?"

She nodded "What?"

"Run to the Leaky Cauldron and pick that up for me? On your way, could you stop at that new womens clothes store and get Luna a couple changes of clothes and something to sleep in? Oh and she'll need some..." his face turned red

Ginny's lips twisted as she tried not to grin "Teddies?"

"NO!" he said through gritted teeth

"babydolls and thongs?" she supplied while George grit his teeth

"No."

"G-strings and pasties?" Harry supplied "The kind strippers wear with the little tassels right over the..."

"Absolutely NOT!" George turned an adorable shade of puce as an image of Luna so attired invaded his mind. He grit his teeth and ground them savagely. "Underclothing. Respectable womens underclothing."

Ginny laughed so hard she snorted. Loudly.

"If you two are done mocking me..." George held out the bag to Ginny with two fingers, his face redder than red and his imagination working overtime.

"Oh all right" Ginny said with a huge grin as she took the bag "But when I get back I want details, lots and lots of details."

"Fat chance." George mumbled and picked up a huge stack of mail as she kissed Harry and waved back as she pushed through the door. When he looked up Harry was staring him down.

"So?"

"What?" George said absently as he thumbed through the mail, his throat constricted painfully every time he came across a letter addressed to Fred.

"What? you know damn well what. You take off in the middle of the night..." Harry slid up to sit on the counter

"Was early morning actually, well past dawn."

"...leave Ginny a note with some cock and bull story about helping Luna with a problem at home,..."

"So?" George gave him a perplexed look

"Luna's home exploded George, remember? Luna has no home."

"I'd say that's a problem."

"So where were you George?" Harry leveled a look at him that reminded him of Hermione.

"You know you spend way too much time around Hermione. Your starting to pick up her dirty look."

"Stop avoiding the question." Harry crossed his arms

"What question?"

George felt a jolt as he came across a letter for both of them. He and Fred had been hoping to visit Japan on holiday late summer so they had talked to a muggle travel agent and requested information. They had waited impatiently weeks and weeks for the information to come. Looked like It had finally come.

"Where have you been the past three weeks George?"

George thought about where he had been the past three weeks, and who he had been with. As much as he would give anything to have Fred alive again, he'd take Luna over Japan any day. He tossed the letter in the trash bin, looked up at Harry and grinned.

"I was with Luna"

Harry rolled his eyes "And where was Luna?"

George smirked "With me of course."

"Fine, don't tell me." Harry laughed despite himself "I want to see you get away with not telling your mum."

"Yeah, yeah." George said sarcastically then he turned serious "Hey, you still in touch with Kingsley Shacklebolt much?"

"Yeah, some. He's getting me front lined to start Auror training in the fall so I can skip my 7th year at Hogwarts. Why?"

"Just wondering whats up with Azkaban, if they are any closer to getting to cleaning it out yet."

" Luna's dad?"

"Yeah"

Harry's eyes opened wide "You two weren't doing anything stupid were you..."

The look on George's face gave him away.

"Bloody hell George! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out there? What the ..."

"Save it alright? Luna was going to go alone...I couldn't talk her out of it and I couldn't let her go alone. What choice did I have?"

"You could have told Ginny or me and we could have stopped her."

"For crying out loud, do you even KNOW Luna? I mean really KNOW her? She's stubborn, and tough. Smart, and sexy and beautiful and incredibly brave and she sings like an angel...and" he stopped when he saw Harry break into a huge grin.

"What?"

"You're in love with her."

"That's not the point right now" George blushed as red as his hair "The point is, that nothing and nobody can stop Luna Lovegood once she makes up her mind to do something. We'd still be there now if it hadn't been for Bagman."

"Bagman? Ludo Bagman?" George nodded "What about him?"

"He was hiding out on one of the small Islands we were using to watch Azkaban, he took us by surprise, knocked us both out, took our brooms and wands and trapped us in a cave."

"How did you..."

"Luna figured it out, she'd borrowed Fleur's hairbrush and together we made a wand using Fleur's hair as the core." George pulled the Veela wand from his pocked and handed it to Harry.

"Brilliant" Harry nodded as he looked at the wand "I wouldn't have thought of it. And it works?"

"Try it out."

"_Wingardium Leviosa" _Harry made a display lift off the shelf and fly into George's hands. " this thing has some real power to it."

George grinned "It has a bit more than one hair in it. Luna wasn't totally sure which hairs were hers and which were Fleur's, since it was so dark in the cave. So she shoved a bunch in."

Harry handed the wand back "So Bagman's running around somewhere then?"

"No" George's face hardened "We found him after we got free, he was attacked by dementors. He'd been laying there with his soul gone for a week, most horrible thing I've ever seen. He wasn't dead yet, but close. I set the boat free and then sank it."

"Better than he deserved."

"Who deserved?" Ginny said as she pushed through the door, her arms full of bags.

"Uh...it's a long story." George said as he took the bags from her.

"If it's about where you've been, I like long stories." she put her hands on her hips and gave him the Hermione look.

"You two really need to stop spending so much time around Hermione." He leaned on the counter and attempted to win the stare down with Ginny, it was no contest, she won easily.

"Oh alright. Harry can tell you though, I'm going to go take this food to Luna."

"She's been in there a long time." Ginny said

"Probably fell asleep." George picked up the food cartons and started up the stairs "she's had a tough few weeks."

"I grew up with him, I can about imagine." Ginny giggled

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"I'm going to hurt him." Ginny glared at the stairs that George had gone up a few minutes before. "Seriously hurt him"

"I'd save some for your mum if I were you."

"Oh no, I don't think we should tell mum."

"Why not?" Harry looked at her in disbelief

"The rest of us will only inflict serious pain on him...mum will kill him." she shook her head "How could he, and after Fred too."

"He's in love with her Ginny. Really, seriously, in love."

"With Luna?"

Harry rolled his eyes "No a Mermaid that lives near there."

"Oh your funny Potter" Ginny giggled a little "Ho ho."

George pounded down the stairs with his wand in his hand, muttering angrily under his breath about stupid stubborn witches.

"George? Whats wrong?" Ginny asked

"Luna Lovegood" He spat out while grinding his teeth "That's whats fucking wrong."

"What about her?" Ginny was perplexed as she watched George fill his pockets with things like decoy detonators and Peruvian darkness powder.

"She tricked me, that's what. "_Its too dangerous, we should let the ministry handle it_" she said "_I want to go back_" she said" George filled another pocket "So, like a total git I let my guard down and what does she do?"

"George?" Ginny's eyes opened wide in worry "She hasn't..."

"She's gone" George stopped and looked at his sister, his face dressed in shades of deep panic and his voice shook. "Gone off by herself to get her father out of Azkaban."

"Oh god no! Harry!" Ginny gasped and looked guiltily at Harry

"We should have told them." Harry said quietly

"Told me what?"

"Luna's father was taken from Azkaban two weeks ago." Ginny said miserably "He died George."

Harry began filling his own pockets "I'm going with you."

George nodded assent, giving no reaction to the news of Xenophilius Lovegoods death.

"I'm going too" Ginny said

"No your not. It's too dangerous." George said

"I'm going or else I am ratting you out to mum."

"Witches are a pain in the ass" George grumbled then turned away from her.

"Ginny, this is too dangerous, I say no." Harry said stubbornly.

Ginny looked at him "I just fought in the battle of Hogwarts, I faced down Bellatrix LeStrange and a room full of death eaters. Tell me whats more dangerous about this than anything I have already faced?"

Harry sighed deeply and took her hand "You stay behind us and stay close."

Ginny smiled and took Georges hand. "Were going to bring her back George. I won't have it any other way. I'm the baby of the family, I always get what I want." she winked and George smirked.

"Looks like Dumbledores Army has one final mission." George whispered to the moon as he prepared to apparate back to Deppart Island, where he was hoping Luna had gone.

"Hang on Luna, don't do anything until I get there."

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Chapter 11 Preview

George, Harry and Ginny

rush to find Luna...

will they be in time to stop her

or will they have to

go to Azkaban

Island to rescue her?

Then,

George takes on

the burden of

telling Luna about her

fathers death. Will it bring

them closer together,

or tear them apart

forever?

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	11. Azkaban Part I

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-Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling. I'm just a lowly fangeek doomed to spend my life increasing someone else's fame and glory.

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Note: I didn't explain it in the last chapter and I meant to...Luna's father and ALL the prisoners were removed from Azkaban two weeks prior to the events in this chapter. The ministry decided that the Dementors could not be trusted, they condemned Azkaban and moved the few remaining prisoners to cells in local jails. I forgot that I cut out the paragraph where I explained that, meaning to overhaul it, and I forgot to do that before I published chapter ten. I apologize for the confusion.

P.S. You might want to go back and re-read chapter three before reading this chapter...not that it will change anything, but it might just make it a little more meaningful if you remember all the details of that chapter! **Wink**

Getting down there...only a few more chapters to go on this one...four at the most, but most likely two or three! I hope you like this chapter and enjoy my take on George's Patronus!! Please feel free to give me feedback on that point! **Wink**

Hugs!

CJ

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-The Storm Before Dawn

-Chapter 11

-Azkaban-Part 1

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Luna Lovegood stood alone, staring up at the stone walls that had set the stage for far too many of her nightmares. After three weeks she had reached her destination, the wizard prison, Azkaban.

Her mind screamed at her furiously. What she had done was so wrong, she had no business being here alone. She had made a promise to George, promised to let him come with her and help her rescue her father.

She'd had no right to make that promise, and so her heart screamed back in response. She couldn't let George risk his life for her. She had no right to risk the Weasley's losing him so soon after losing Fred, they couldn't take losing another son and brother... it wasn't right for her to risk such precious blood.

And Luna...she would rather die herself than have him die while trying to help her.

That was why she had done what she had. Why she had talked him into leaving Deppart Island and convinced him that she was too scared to go on, why she had lied and said she would let the ministry handle it. That was why as soon as she had heard him go back downstairs she had apparated perfectly for only the second time in her life.

And she HAD landed perfectly on the spot, practically with her nose against the wall of the wizard prison. She had gotten close enough to miss the caterwauling charms, and the dementors, and even through outer stone wall around the beach. But better than all of that, because she had only been gone about a minute, George had no idea that she had even gone and by the time he did, she would be safely on Deppart Island again with her father. George was going to be so angry with her, but as long as he was alive...

Luna turned away from the wall and pulled a small bag out of her rucksack. Out of it she pulled a pony holder and brushed her hair into a messy ponytail, then stuffed her hair out of the way and under a dark hat. She stashed her rucksack in a dark corner and then scanned the area for a place to make entrance to the prison.

She found it right away in a broken window and climbed up and in.

Luna smiled as her feet hit the cold stone, her luck seemed to be truly with her. She had come in at the perfect spot, the now deserted human guard station.

"_Lumos_" Luna spoke the spell to light the tip of her wand, then she stepped into the guard station and closed the door behind her, speaking the locking spell to guard against any surprise visitors.

She shined the wand light around the room looking for a record of prisoners or some kind of map as to where they were kept.

Luna was about to give up when she looked up and saw a grid on the wall. Though the magic powering it was gone, an outline of the names could be seen through the thick coating of dust. Luna shined her wand closer and saw that it was a model of the prison.

"_Illuminati" _

Luna smiled a little as the grid came to life, then decided to follow her hunch further.

"_Illuminati Xenophilius Lovegood" _This time, nothing happened.

"_Illuminati Lovegood, Xenophilius" _Still nothing.

For twenty minutes Luna tried every revealing spell and every variation on her fathers name. She was getting horribly discouraged and ready to go back to searching for a paper trail to her father when she tried her fathers birth date and the grid came to life again, zeroing in on a zone five floors almost directly above Luna's head.

Luna reversed the spell on the grid and opened the door. Her father was only a few floors away, she couldn't help but smile as she searched for the stairwell. At last she pulled open a door that led to a long flight of stairs and she moved through the doorway and began to climb the stairs, unaware that a solitary shadow had begun to follow her.

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George knelt on one knee and lightly touched the place that would forever be sacred ground, at least to him, for it was the place where Luna had given herself to him.

"God, I'm a fucking idiot." he cursed himself silently while he was able, knowing that as soon as Harry and Ginny caught up to him they wouldn't allow it.

And they didn't.

"George?" Ginny called from the other side of the heavy boulder that had once held George and Luna prisoner.

He quickly got to his feet, not wanting to give away any clues about what had happened while he and Luna had been imprisoned in the cave.

"In here."

Ginny, and then Harry appeared, their wands breaking the darkness ahead of them.

"I'm sorry...." Ginny said softy "But..."

"Nothing." George nodded "Me either."

"We've covered the whole island George." Harry said lamely and George only nodded again. "Is this where Bagman...?"

"Yeah." George looked up, crossed his arms over his chest, leaned against the wall.. "Imagine? Being locked in a cave for week and it was the most wonderful week of my life." He smirked in an attempt to hide the worry.

Ginny went to him and put her hand on his arm "We'll find her George."

"She's on Azkaban...she has to be." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair in frustration "What was I thinking? I know how stubborn she is, I've seen it! Then, out of the blue, she was giving up on this whole escapade of hers and going home? What the bloody fuck was I thinking?" He pulled away from Ginny and stormed out of the cave back out into the night towards the beach.

Ginny looked at Harry helplessly, he took her hand and they followed him down the beach. George stood staring at the prison.

"What is she thinking, going in there alone?"

"Luna has a lot of wonderful traits George" Harry said standing next to him "A firm grasp on reality isn't one of them."

The words of the song came back to George of their own accord.

"Actually, thats one of her nicer traits." George grinned sheepishly when he noticed that Harry and Ginny were looking at him as if he had lost his mind.

"You do have it bad don't you?" Ginny grinned

"Never mind that." Blushing, George turned away to look back at the prison. "We've got to get her out of there. How the hell are we going to do that?"

What appeared to be a thick black cloud lay over Azkaban, menacing dark creatures laying in wait for the only human who still walked within the crumbling walls of the recently closed and condemned prison, greedy to devour her soul.

"I don't think were going to be able to do this alone." Harry said "Were going to need Patronus's, loads of them."

"But Harry, we don't have time to collect loads of people..." Ginny fretted

Harry shrugged and reached into his pocket, pulling out a Galleon. "Only need a minute." He waved his wand over it, and within minutes the surviving members of Dumbledores Army had once again assembled around them on tiny Deppart Island.

Harry gave instructions and they mounted their brooms, each taking a position around the condemned prison.

"Ready your wands, on my call!" Harry yell into the black night, raising his wand to the cloud of dementors.

To his right, George held his wand ready, fiercely determined that he would be successful. Luna's life depended on it, and failing was out of the question. He didn't know what he would do when he found her, whether he would kiss her silly, or turn her over and spank her bottom, but failing her again was out of the question...he would see her again.

"NOW! EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled as the silver stag burst from his wand "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A second stag charged the dementors, joined by Ginny's horse patronus.

George's mind filled with Luna's face and the sound of her sweet voice gently singing to him on Rankloch Island filled his mind.

_Sweet precious one_

_don't be alarmed_

_I've come my dear one, _

_to keep you from harm_

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_take hold of my hand_

_fly with me_

_I'll take you away_

_far from this angry sea_

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_to a land of princes and princesses_

_and magic rings_

_with iced sugar castles_

_and other nice things_

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_nothing to fear sweet one_

_you'll come to no harm_

_Just go on and dream, love_

_you're safe in my arms._

One after another, the memories swept over him. He remembered meeting her on the stairs during the storm at Hogwarts and how they had fought so badly that she had punched him and sent him flying. He could still remember how it had felt to wake lost in the sweet smelling tangle of her moonlit hair and learning of her foolish plans to rescue her father.

Warmth spread over him as he reflected on the kiss on Etif Island and taking care of her on Lewej cove when she was sick. Then he remembered the moonlight on her skin as they made love in the cave on Deppart Island. He loved this woman, GOD how he loved her!

George felt a surge of heat suffuse him from head to toe and he focused and aimed his wand.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The familiar silver shield appeared in front of him and George yanked his wand away in frustration.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" nothing but the shield, and it was even weaker this time.

"God! I'm failing her again" George thought miserably. Luna had saved him on Rankloch Island with her Patronus, and when she needed him, he couldn't do the same for her! NO! No...he would do this!

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" But now only a trickle of silver mist came from the tip.

"I can't!" he thought miserably..."I can't do this!"

A voice welled up inside him loud, demanding, and clear, but it wasn't his voice, it was Luna's.

"FUCK CAN'T!"

"I can ...I can do this!" he said to himself and pictured her face again. "Come on Luna, help me..."

"EXPECTO PATRONUM" Once again the silver shield filled the air in front of him.

"No damn it!" George kicked the air and nearly tumbled from his broom. He righted himself and aimed his wand again.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A circle of silver light came from the end of his wand and at first George thought it was just the shield once again, and then, he realized that it had a shape. It was a head...the head of a creature he had never seen before. The body was like a horse, and it had wings like a Pegasus, but on it's forehead was a long horn like a unicorn...except it was oddly...crumpled.

The creature charged forward, its huge horn leading the way, knocking dementors to and fro. The air was filled with silver animals of all kinds, and within minutes, the black cloud had cleared to reveal the brilliant star filled night.

Still shaken, George landed in the inner courtyard of the condemned prison, followed by Harry, Ginny and his other brothers, Hermione Granger and members of Dumbledores Army. Harry and Ginny thanked the DA members for their assistance and sent them home, asking them to stay alert should they be needed again, then George prepared to face his brothers and Hermione.

"George, what the hell are you thinking?" Bill began to yell "Running off without a word, worrying Mum"

"Uh...I have a better question."Ron cut across Bill "What the bloody hell was that thing that came out of your wand?"

George turned away, pretended to be checking his rucksack for something.

"Ron!" Hermione admonished "I think..."

"No..." Percy cut in with a smirk "I think Ron's question is a good question."

"Since when are you all impractical?" Hermione asked

"That thing was definitely...weird..." Harry said with a little shrug

"Mum has been scared to death George" Bill said, ignoring the others "And you've been off, up to some dangerous foolishness with Luna Lovegood and..." Bill stopped, then looked at George " What the HELL _WAS_ THAT THING?"

"Can we discuss this AFTER I get Luna out?" George said shortly, not wanting to admit his suspicions

"You don't think were letting you go in there alone?" Hermione crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly

"Bad enough Luna's in there without the rest of you going in there."

"George" Percy crossed his arms over his chest "Since the ministry closed Azkaban nobody has been watching this place, nobody knows what or who could be in there."

"I know Luna's in there, that's enough." He tied his bag shut again and hefted it over his shoulder.

"Do you even know that for sure?" Bill cut in

"Yeah" Harry admitted "We've searched the smaller Island she might have been on."

"Are you sure she even came back here? Maybe she went to their house, or the hospital ..." Percy added

"You don't know Luna." Ron shook his head "She gets an idea in her head and she is unshakable. Hermione's been trying to tell her for years that there is no such thing as a crumple horned..." Ron stopped and looked at George, a huge grin spreading across his face. He caught the eye of the others and they began to snicker.

"What?" Percy asked in confusion looking from one to the other.

"George's Patronus." Ginny giggled as George turned away from them, a blush covering his face.

"What about it?"

"It's a Crumple Horned Snorkack." Ron said and chortled with laughter, unable to hold it back any longer.

"What the hell is a...crumple horned...wh...?" Bill asked, his brows knitting together in confusion. "George?"

George had begun to walk away from them and he didn't stop now.

"George?" Percy asked as George walked deeper into the shadows.

George knelt down and picked something up, then he turned back towards them. A shredded, destroyed rucksack in his hands.

"It's Luna's." He said quietly.

George dropped the rucksack and turned towards a broken window to seek entrance into the abandoned prison.

As his hands touched the cold stone, terrified screaming filled the courtyard from one of the upper floors of the condemned prison.

George felt his heart drop into his feet. There was no mistaking the screams, he had been woken by them so often during her many nightmares.

"LUNA!"

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Chapter 12 Preview

George rushes to find Luna! But will he be in time?

Who or what was following her?

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	12. Azkaban pt2 Epi Magic of the Lullaby

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Disclaimer:Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling

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Authors Note: My Apologies for the horrific delay in posting this chapter...my computer crashed and I just NOW got it running again!

So this is it...end of story...super long chapter plus an epilogue!!

For readers on my other stories, I SWEAR I will get to them soon!!! This chapter went much much longer than planned.

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The Storm Before Dawn

Chapter 12

Azkaban Part II

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The hallways of the wizard prison were deadly silent, the only sound came from the echo from the clicking of her shoes on the cold stones and this immediately told Luna that something wasn't right. She had been expecting to find other prisoners, the innocent, the guilty, the damned.

But hallway after hallway, floor after floor, was empty and silent...but for the echo of the click of her shoes.

It was almost enough to make her turn around and run back for the broken window on the ground floor, to run back to George and the safety of his arms.

But by now he had know that she had gone, he would be furious with her. Knowing George, she was probably safer where she was.

Besides, her fathers cell was only a few feet away, just around the corner. Luna looked up and saw a dim light, like the light from her nightmares. She paused for a minute and took a deep breath.

"It's only a coincidence" she told herself "it doesn't mean anything"

Not believing herself, she nodded and moved on.

She found herself wishing furiously that she had brought George with her. But then, he was better off where he was, he was safely back in Diagon Alley, in his shop, nothing and nobody could hurt him there.

Luna would not be responsible for his being hurt, the Weasley's wouldn't lose another they loved. It was better this way.

Her reasoning sounded dim and lame, even to her. She had lied to him, conned him. Just after giving herself to him completely. He was going to be furious with her and he had every right to be...but that was okay, as long as he was alive and well to be so.

Luna's mind flew back to almost a month before, to the storm at Hogwarts, when she had first encountered George Weasley by the boat house. Oh he had been so infuriating! But then, she had been quite the shrew herself that night, her nerves so brittle and prickly that she had behaved totally unlike herself.

Had she really punched him so hard he flew across the landing? Yes, she had...but she had done something else that was much, much worse. She had told him of her plan to rescue her father. That was the worst thing she did to him, telling him her secret.

It was because of that that he had insisted on coming along to protect her. It was because of that he had nearly had his soul devoured by dementors on Rankloch Island, and been trapped in that horrible cave by Ludo Bagman on Deppart Island.

No, it wasn't because of a promise...it was because of her. George had fallen in love with her...and she loved him too, that was why she had done what she did, why she couldn't allow him to risk himself for her one more time.

Luna loved George Weasley too much to allow him to die for her.

She had seen it too many times, and somehow Luna knew that if George came to Azkaban, he would die. Like in her nightmares.

She couldn't let that happen.

Without realizing it, Luna had come to the end of the corridor. She turned her head and looked into the dark cell but could see little despite the brightness outside.

Her hand shook as she reached for the barred door and pushed it open, it didn't occur to her to wonder why it wasn't locked, her mind was occupied with the huddled forms in the corner, both covered by a single bloody sheet.

Her feet moved as if they were slogging through frozen slush as they crossed the room, she fell to her knees and put her hands out for the sheet and pulled it away.

Her father and George lay side by side, eyes open and staring at her as if accusing, while blood ran furiously from their mouths and noses.

Luna screamed

"You left me and left me die" her father said

"You gave yourself to me and then you abandoned me" George accused

"No" Luna whimpered and wrapped her arms around herself "no"

"Traitorous bitch!" George hissed as he reached for her with bloody fingers

Luna screamed again and rose to her feet to run, George and her father on her heels.

"Luna!"

Luna screamed again as a pair of arms locked around her and held on tightly

"Let me go!" Luna fought George furiously

"It's okay, its me!"

"_Ridikkulus!" _came from somewhere behind them

"Let me go! Let me go!" Luna pounded against George's chest

George took her face in his hands "Luna, It's okay, it was a boggart."

"A boggart?" She whispered

"A boggart" He kissed her and pulled her into his arms again and held her tightly until she seemed to calm down. Then slowly and carefully he led her down the stairs, out of the prison and back into the inky black night.

Then they left Azkaban.

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A storm was brewing and the dementors were beginning to gather again, so rather than risk flying home they flew to tiny Lewej Cove for the night. The time had come to tell Luna about her father. They had debated about who should do it, but then decided that it should be all of them, Harry, George and Ginny.

After, Ginny and Luna hugged for an eternity and then Harry pulled Luna in for a tight hug of his own. Then he took her hand and announced that he was stealing her for a moment and tucked her hand in his and he gave George no chance to protest before walking off with her.

George watched them his expression less than amused.

"Why does he have to ...to..."George spluttered as he watched Harry and Luna sitting close together on a log, her hand still held in his. "Sit so close to her and...touch her like that?"

Ginny chuckled quietly into her hand and George turned on her.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" He demanded through narrowed eyes

"What the hell am I laughing at?" Ginny mimicked "You, that's what I'm laughing at. I'd actually thought maybe the green monster gene had skipped a Weasley...but, I guess not."

"What are you babbling about Ginny?"

George didn't give her time to answer because he was now heading toward Harry and Luna. Harry had just put his arm around Luna's shoulders.

Ginny grabbed his arm "George!"

"What?!" He turned and half growled, half yelled at Ginny.

"Wow" She said in awe "You really do have it bad don't you?"

George looked at her and mentally shook himself. He was being stupid...totally stupid.

"Sorry." He gave her an sheepish grin "I think not only did I get the green monster gene, but I think I got Fred's share."

"Well the last person you have to worry about is Harry Potter." Ginny laughed and ran up behind him and jumped on his back like she had when they were kids.

"Yeah? And whys that?" George said looking back at her with a grin

"Because I have it on very good authority that Harry Potter is madly, crazily, passionately in love with some girl named Ginny Weasley."

"I'm being silly?"

"Totally." Ginny nodded

"Then you won't mind if I tell you that I just saw Harry touch Luna's bum."

"I..." Ginny faltered and George grinned, letting go of her arms to let her slide off his back.

"I'll kill him." Ginny glared through the darkness of Lewej Cove

"I was wrong" George said with a small grin "I think you got Fred's share."

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"I think you upset George Harry" Luna said softly

Harry shrugged "Not my fault you have a jealous boyfriend."

"I'm sure he is quite furious with me for what I did, I doubt he will still..." she trailed off

"Don't be daft Luna, he's here isn't he?" Harry tugged her hand until she looked at him.

"Yes, he's here. And he's furious. He probably can't wait to start rowing. It's one of our better abilities."

"He loves you Luna. And judging by the way he reacted when he found you, rowing is the last thing on his mind."

"You mean he wants to throttle me too?"

Despite himself, Harry laughed and Luna couldn't resist a small smile.

"I doubt he came all this way to save your life just to kill you himself by throttling you. Besides, you didn't see his patronus."

"His Patronus? You mean he...finally..." Luna looked at him, her eyes huge silver circles."what was it? Blast-Ended Skrewt right?"

Harry laughed "No...no. Good guess though."

"What other animal explodes?" Luna asked

"Oh...this doesn't explode...at least, I don't know ... the horn might I guess."

"You don't mean?" Luna's eyes, if possible, went even wider.

"The crumple horned snorkack."

Luna put her hand over her mouth, seconds later it became clear it was to smother laughter.

"You've been saying for years they were real." Harry smiled "Even Hermione is questioning now."

Luna shook her head "Harry, they came from my mothers fairy tales. My father and I guess...he pretended for me, and I pretended for him even though we must have both realized..."

Luna smiled sadly "What did it look like?"

"Like a Pegasus...but a Unicorn too. It flew, instead of running I mean."

"Like my mothers lullaby."

Luna was quiet for a moment then she looked sadly towards the water. "My mum died when I was so young. My memories of her have started to get fuzzy. Now I've lost Daddy too. How long will it be before he's fuzzy too?" Her next words were so soft they would have been lost had the wind carried them the other way.

"I feel so all alone."

"Do you remember Luna, after we went to the hall of mysteries, when Sirius died?"

She nodded

"Do you remember what you said to me?"

Luna shook her head

"Everyone but you and I were at the feast. I suppose you could say I was moping about miserably and you were putting up posters because all your things were missing. I asked if you wanted help looking and you said no. Then you said that your mum always said that the things we lose had a way of coming back to us in the end...if not the way we expect them to."

Luna looked up and smiled "My mum did say that, I remember telling you that now."

Harry put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

"I know it's not the same as having your parents to love you, but George does love you. Ginny and I love you, and Ron and Hermione, and so many others. Your not alone Luna."

"Oh Harry." Luna whispered softly, too overcome with emotion to say anything else. She pulled away and kissed his cheek, then ran to throw herself into the arms that she belonged in.

The arms that she longed for.

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"Harry" Ginny wrapped her arms around herself, still in her seat after the funeral for Xenophilius Lovegood "I'm worried about Luna."

Thinking her chilled Harry slid off suit coat and spread it over her back, then left his arm around her shoulders.

"Any reason?" She looked up at him and he shifted closer "Besides the obvious I mean?"

Ginny shrugged "You know how it was for them, Luna's mother died when she was very little. She's lost everything she has ever known...all that is familiar to her."

Harry looked up to where Luna stood next to her fathers grey/white marbled tomb. Her hands rested atop the marble, her head down and though Luna's hair covered her face, her shaking shoulders gave away her sobbing.

But she was far from alone.

George stood at her side, just as he had since leaving Lewej Cove two days before. He had been at her side when she identified her fathers remains, and when she had called the straggling remainder of her fathers family, and while she struggled through making arrangements for the funeral.

George had been at her side while she watched the remainder of the only home she had ever known broken down and cleared away. He had been at her side as it was transformed into a quiet and beautiful garden. The kind of place she knew her father would have loved visit, and bring his books to study in.

And George had been at her side today, when Xenophilius Lovegood had been laid to rest in that garden, and he had prayed that he would find peace there.

No, As much as Luna might mourn and miss her father, she was far from alone.

She had George.

"He'll never leave her." Harry said

"What?" Ginny looked at him and Harry nodded to where George stood watch over Luna.

"Even though she's lost her father, she's not alone." Harry looked at Ginny and stood, offering his hand. "You know your brother, she's stuck with him now."

Ginny smiled wryly as she took his hand and stood "Heaven's, I don't know whether to be relieved or more worried."

Harry shrugged "He hasn't blown anything up in ages."

"They've been back two days."

"Got me there." Harry shrugged.

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Luna was passive as she bid farewell to the last of the mourners. Not that there had been that many actual mourners, after all, her father had betrayed the side of good in the end. He had attempted to hand Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley over to Voldemorts death eaters. Luna also realized that her hasty departure after the battle must have made things look like maybe she had been in on it too. Besides, it wasn't as if the Lovegood's hadn't had a touch of the pariah about them even before all the atrocities of the past year.

But while mourners were scarce, reporters were everywhere. Harry had told her it had been like that at all of the funerals...a lot of press, still Luna wondered what all the gossipers, not all of them press, would have to say about the heavy Weasley population at her fathers funeral. Even George's aunt Muriel, having long since been told the full and true story, had come. George had been quite delighted to actually overhear Muriel telling off a gossipy woman in defense of Luna's father and Luna, having been told the story by George, gave Muriel an extra warm hug as she departed.

Luna hoped, not for herself, but for her fathers sake, that Harry, Ron and Hermione being there would speak volumes to gossip mongers. Luna had nearly blanched when Rita Skeeter had appeared, yet Hermione had been quite sure that anything written by _HER_ at least would be entirely favorable.

The pain was intense, eating at every part of her heart. Luna had been so sure once she got to Azkaban everything would be okay. She would find her father and she would save him from that dreadful place. That was why she had taken so many foolish risks, why she had allowed George to take those risks along with her. .

He looked up and found her watching him, his face crinkled into the beautiful smile that she had so come to love and adore.

When he smiled at her she could even forget how much he had yelled at her for the "dumbass little stunt" she had "pulled" when she had tricked him.

How he could forgive her, she didn't know. She didn't deserve that forgiveness, she didn't deserve his love, but he gave it anyway.

That was the miracle that was George Weasley.

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The garden had long since been emptied of everyone but them and a spectacular sunset had begun to spread its glory over Ottery St. Catchpole. A slight breeze stirred the leaves overhead, causing a small involuntary shiver down Luna's back.

George slid his coat off and lay it over Luna's shoulders and she looked up at him, giving him a small trial smile in gratitude. The smile faltered and she lapsed back into tears. George put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry George" She said softly "I can't seem to stop."

"Shhh" He reached out his other hand and lay her head on his shoulder "It's okay, todays a day to cry. That's why they have funerals."

"But what if I still want to cry tomorrow?" she asked sadly

"Then I'll put on a clean shirt and you can get that one all wet too."

Luna laughed a little

"And what if you run out of clean shirts?"

"Then I send for Mum to pick up my laundry, she does it, brings it back and we can start fresh."

"Your poor mum" Luna said "Tell me she doesn't really do your laundry"

"Of course not." George rolled his eyes and Luna looked at him suspiciously

"She does, doesn't she?"

"No."

Luna lifted an eyebrow

George smirked "Ginny does."

Luna laughed "You better be kidding."

George brushed her cheek with his fingers. "I've missed that."

"What?"

George kissed her gently. "Your laugh."

Luna smiled a little "You make me want to laugh again."

George kissed her deeper, burying his fingers in her hair, then remembering where they were, and that he had something he wanted to do, he pulled away.

"Come on" He stood up and took her hand "Lets walk"

"Oh, right. I'm sorry...your family is waiting for us. Were holding dinner up aren't we?."

"Nah, don't worry about it" George took her hand

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather apparate?" she asked

"I have something I want to do on the way. Besides, you can't apparate well, remember?" he snickered

"And you can't conjure a Patronus right?" Luna giggled a little

George mumbled something under his breath that Luna couldn't understand but she was pretty sure she could make out the name Harry and the word dismemberment.

They walked in silence hand in hand until the roof of the burrow came into view. George stopped in the high grass and abruptly pulled Luna into his lap.

"George...what are you..." she gasped

"Kiss me Luna." he demanded, a roguish grin on his face.

Luna considered arguing, but then another idea came to mind and she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his face to hers, sliding around so she straddled his lap. Then she kissed him, putting as much heat and passion into it as she was able to summon on the spot.

Georges hands moved from the tangle of hair down her back to her hips where he pulled her more firmly against him.

"Hey George!" Ron called from the house "Mum saw you out here so you better zip em back up!"

George shoved Luna from him, unceremoniously dumping her on the ground.

"Rooooonnnnnn!!!" Hermione yelled after him followed by a loud slap

Luna giggled as she watched Georges face turn bright red.

"Damn 'Mione...it's just a hunch. I don't know if he's really out here!" Ron protested "Why do you have to be so damn mean?"

"Poor little _Won-Won_" Harry chortled

"I'll _Won-Won _you _Potty_" Ron yelled just before the door slammed shut

George narrowed his eyes at Luna, laying stretched out now on the ground.

"What did you have to kiss me like that for?"

"You don't like it?" she batted her eyes at him.

"Am I a living breathing male over the age of nine?" George lifted an eyebrow.

"You're the one who pulled me down here." Luna accused "And you said you had something you wanted to do!"

"Not that!" George's ears turned red "Naughty girl! Trying to ravage my boyish -though horribly manly and sexy body!"

Luna was having hysterics now.

George smiled down at her and scooped her back up into his arms.

"I really did miss hearing you laugh."

Luna's heart was overcome with warmth as he held her, George out here, and knowing there was a family inside who accepted her and would welcome her soon into their home despite the pain her family had brought on them was too much and she nearly cried again, but now out of joy.

"I have something I want to give you." George whispered softly into her ear as he reached inside the jacket she still wore to an inside pocket and pulled out a small tied hanky.

"What is it?"

"I thought you might need to blow your nose." George teased as he fought with the knots

"Ha ha." Luna rolled her eyes

"Close your eyes" George whispered

"Why?"

"Cause I said so."

"But why?"

"Can you ever just do something without fighting me on it?" George rolled his eyes

"Well if you want to get technical...." Luna began

"Look Lovegood, you can either argue, or you can get the contents of this hanky." George stared her down.

"It's not a booger is it?" Luna looked at him

George looked at her, mouth agape.

"Because I have given you so many boogers in the past."

Luna giggled and closed her eyes "Okay, but if you put a booger in my hand I'll hurt you Geo..."

Luna opened her eyes, it wasn't a booger. It was a ring, an elegant antique white gold engagement ring. It was their diamiond, but the diamond had been cut into seven stones, one very large princess cut diamond in the middle and three baguettes on each side. It was incredible.

"George." Luna gasped "It's beautiful...I...thought I lost it, that night, in Azkaban."

"You did. I found it in the control room, just before we left and I was checking to make sure the grids were all down."

"And it's still okay" Luna smiled

"It's better than okay I'd say. But then I'm biased, did the wand work myself." He grinned as he slid it onto her finger.

"The things we lose always come back to us in the end." Luna smiled as a flood of tears washed over her cheeks.

"What?" George smiled

"I told Harry that, It was something my Mum use to say and Harry reminded me of it the other night in Lewej Cove. The things we lose always come back to us in the end, if not in the way we expect."

George looked at her.

"I thought I lost everyone I loved, who loved me, but Harry showed me that wasn't true, that lots of people loved me still. And I lost our diamond after I left you, I was sure that away from us it would turn to sand, but it didn't, it came back, different yes, but still so beautiful, more so."

"I can't replace your parents Luna." George said sadly

"And I can't replace Fred. I wouldn't even begin to know how to try."

She smiled and took his face in her hands.

"But I can love you the best that I know how to, do you see...we've been given a brand new person to love."

George's own eyes were damp now as he looked into the glistening silver pools that were Luna's eyes. He kissed her then pulled her close

"I love you." he whispered against her neck "I love you so much"

Luna pulled her arms around his shoulders and pulled him even closer.

"I love you too"

George opened his eyes to see the first signs of ominous looking clouds.

"I guess we better hurry. " he said pulling Luna to her feet as a clap of thunder sounded somewhere in the distance.

"My family is waiting dinner and besides, it sounds like a storm is coming."

"It's okay" Luna smiled up at him as she took his hands in hers to pull him closer for a kiss.

"I don't mind storms too much these days."

The End

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Epilogue-Magic of the Lullaby

19 Years Later

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hehehe Just Kidding

_Three Years Later_

_Sweet precious one_

_don't be alarmed_

_Daddies come _

_to keep you from harm_

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_take hold of my hand_

_fly with me_

_I'll take you away_

_far from this angry sea_

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_to a land of princes and princesses_

_and magic rings_

_with iced sugar castles_

_and other nice things_

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_nothing to fear sweet one_

_you'll come to no harm_

_Just go on and dream love_

_you're safe in my arms._

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"Messing with family tradition are you?"

George looked up to smile at his wife.

"Go back to sleep mum, were fine."

"Sorry, can't do that, my breasts say Fred's hungry."

George winced as he got up out of the rocker and followed Luna back to their bedroom.

"Freddy" He said as he handed the baby over"Please for the sake of my sanity, call him Freddy when speaking of him and your breasts in the same context. You say Fred and I have visions of my brother doing things that make me want to pummel him from beyond the grave."

Luna giggled down at Fred as he nursed with enthusiasm.

"This jealousy thing of daddy's is getting just a little silly isn't it Fred. Besides he's messing with a family tradition, so I say were even."

George slid onto the bed next to them and rested his cheek on Luna's shoulder to watch the baby nurse.

"Who says it has to be mother to daughter?" he protested "Why can't it be father to son?"

"It's a little odd don't you think? A father whisking his son away to a land of iced sugar castles on a crumple horned snorkack?"

George looked at Luna indignantly "Who says its a crumple horned snorkack? Where in the song does it say "I'll whisk you away on a crumple horned snorkack?"

Luna shook with laughter as she switched Fred over to the other breast. "You know that's what your thinking when your singing!"

"Is not." George looked like a petulant child as he pouted over the head of his son.

"What's your Patronus these days Weasley?" Luna looked at him critically

"It's a Pegasus, like always." George said "I'm getting some water, want some?"

"A Pegasus with what on its head?"

George stopped in the door, his shoulders slumped. He had been trying for the better part of three years to adjust his Patronus, but it still remained the same.

He came to the side of the bed and scooped Fred out of her arms and took him back to his room to pace trying to work a burp from him. Once the burp was achieved he lay Fred back in his bassinet then went to lay next to his wife.

"Okay, fine, it's a crumple horned snorkack."

Luna giggled softly as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. In the two weeks since they had brought Fredrick Xenophilius Weasley home their quiet time together had been extremely limited.

"You know, it's all your fault that I have such a goofy looking Patronus Mrs. Weasley." George accused, playing idly with a lock of hair that fell over her shoulder.

"My fault?" Luna giggled

"Yes, first you told me those silly stories, bewitched me with your lullaby and then you made me fall in love with you."

"My silly stories?" Luna said indignantly "My silly stories...what about you? Huna and Luna."

Fred gave an angry squeal from his bassinet and George jumped up.

"Saved by the crying baby! Yeah, he's daddy's boy, aren't you daddy's boy? EWWWWWWWWWWWWW !!!! Ohhhhh nasty! Who did a nasty? Mum!! Freddy did a nasty squishy in his nappy!"

Luna giggled as she listened to George baby talk to their son. The light in the nursery clicked out and the sweet melody of the familiar lullaby began to fill the quiet once again. George couldn't sing on key to save his life, but the song was just as sweet coming from his lips.

Maybe George was right, maybe it wasn't just for a mother to sing to her daughter. After all, hadn't she sang it to George when he was sick on Rankloch Island after the dementor attack?

No, George was absolutely right. He should sing it to their son, and their son to his.

It was a lullaby meant to be sung with love, to someone you loved...

That was what made it magical.

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-Please please please review!!!!!

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-Thanks to everyone who has read and stuck with this story through all the technical difficulties! Muahhhhhh!!!

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